Is there a way of changing dependent learning styles?

Making yourself available to students in an online environment will be the key to their success. What has been a proven method of making this work continuously?

By including significant discussions and work applications in the particular career field this will provide better interaction with other students and instructor.

By including significant discussions and work applications in the particular career field this will provide better interaction with other students and instructor.

This is an useful platform for student who are being trained to work in professions/ trades that require hands-on skills as well as theoretical knowledge. It helps students manage their time better when they are working with the online part of the course and at the same time students recieve the required hands-on training in class to learn the skills for their trade or profession.

Blended learning is fun! Each student if trained properly and given the chance knowing there is a learning curve will eventually see that they can learn just as much online as they will in a traditional classroom. Change is good and once they learn the software they will love it. Structural navigation is not difficult and learning online can be full of surprises.

How do you handle continual excuses for late assignments?

How do you engage students in discussion questions?

I think you can make your presence just as sufficient on an online program as oppose to the the traditional class room. This is aceived by creating a Bio of yourself, and also responding frequently and giving online "pats on the Backs"

Navigation simplicity is important, it will ease frustration if the students can return to menus for guidance and are able to proceed to the next step with ease and confidence.

In the classroom as we know, it is somewhat of a challenge after 1/2 hr of class to hold the attention of the students. An online course is an asset to the course curiculum, as the students can log on and off when they see feesable. Therefore, in essence, the student will get close to the maximum attention spand needed to understand and complete the arranged assignments. I feel this is a great asset for the students learning and understanding capabilities.

How do you manage the quiet participants?

I think it would be good to have synchronis sessions at regualr intervals and you could use wiki as a mode for this.

What is the best method of recording video feeds for online classrooms? Are there free software programs for this method?

What is the best way to get the students to interact in online classrooms?

I think the idea of students introducing themselves in the forum is a great idea. I personally do that in the real-time class with my students on the first day of class. However, if I require, as their first assignment, to write a brief bio about their academic background, career, or experience, I am afraid that some will feel less than others. For example a housewife returning to school may feel shy sharing her academic background with others, who may already have advanced degrees. What do you think?

As a Instructor in a Technical school I think the Online programs that we have set in place at other campuses is going to be the thing of the future. Looking at other discussions its hard to answer some of the question our give ideas, when the program we roled out is totally different then what I have seen in the forum discussion's. I beleive that the student should be able to gain access to the materials that he or she is studying, that there is a group that they can turn to for help when in need, as far as online discussion with the Instructor, well thats were we are different, First the student does 2 days of online training and testing then 3 days of lab work with the Instructor, so if building a syllabus for this course. Would you build it on the 2 days of online training or the whole 5 days.

I am contemplating what is the best method to engage learners. The first thought that comes to mind, is to use a scaffolding technique such that you take a topic in which a student has an interest and then build a project or assignment around it. What do you think of that idea? Do you have other ideas?

Presence of the instructor is an absolute must so that student's feel that they are in a "community" that is active and controlled. The instructor must always maintain a professional student/teacher relationship making very sure to keep things professional and not personal.

I believe this will be a challenge for some students, but at they continue to engage in discussion forums they will become more proficient at communicating effectively. It will also give the student time to really think of what they would like to say and not be intimidated to share it.