Antonio,
Each degree will have classes that are harder to engaging and will lean on the instructor for personal experience.
Shelly Crider
That is a good thing, because I love to tell stories about what I have experienced.
Antonio,
Good to know! Students really love personalization!
Shelly Crider
I have found that over the years, the personal experiences are the things that most students remember. I still remember the stories from other instructors I had in the past. I remember them for that fact. There are others, that were just names.
I completely disagree! If a quality course is developed it will take more time to put it online. Unfortunately, some instructors think that they can post everything on the LMS at the beginning of the semester and not have to touch it again until the end of the semester. To effectively teach online, it is time intensive and requires dedication from the instructor to respond/engage students. Not as easy as it looks!
I think it depends. If the course is prepackaged from a educational product vendor, then less time is needed in preparation for an online course, especially if no changes are made.
If one has to develop the course then it will take more time, because all the lectures will have to be formatted in an easy to read format, any interactive or multimedia components have to be developed and added to the course content.
Also, if one is developing the class, extra care needs to be taken to make sure all copyright use and legal permissions are followed. For example, an instructor may want to have a journal article for the class, and to have the students download the article from the class shell, but if that journal has restrictions on distribution, then the instructor can only cite the article and have the students find it as a homework assignment.
Amie,
Oh so true....I have seen classes that have literally been thrown online. Students know quality!
Shelly Crider
Kendra,
You will still need to inspect for quality control, even if the class is from a product vendor. Links change all the time.
Shelly Crider
I am about to develop my first online course and I am nervous. I thought it would be easier than my classroom course but I am finding it to be more of a challenge. The time I will need to put in is considerably more for the online class primarily because this is my first attempt at creating a course using this method. Although it will be hard, I am looking forward to teaching online!
You're correct that you will have to inspect for quality control. I think that link checking takes less time though than having to develop an entire course online.
The time invested to develop a quality online course requires the same amount of time as a traditional course because you want the learner to achieve the same goals as a traditional learner the outcomes of both online and traditional are the same.
Robyn,
Be sure to double check your spelling and your links!
Shelly Crider
Barbara,
Same goals just a different format! Most students who want online courses will do just fine,those who are not so sure will struggle.
Shelly Crider
I believe they both take the same amount of time. You still have to edit your content in a traditional setting (ie handouts, Power Point lectures, quizes etc.). The challenge of the online class is you might have to be a bit more thorough in your lectures because you don't have the luxury of seeing the students face to face for them to pose any questions ASAP. Either way, you are trying to present information in the easiest manner for all students to understand. No matter what the medium, I still believe it takes the same amount of effort.
Carrie,
Good point. The classroom takes time with handouts and personal questions. As online, handouts can be uploaded and email or discussions can be answered as quickly as you need to.
Shelly Crider
I disagree because as a LMS Administrator and course developer, it requires more time to develop the content and put into a online format. With in classroom courses, instructors can use the text book for class lectures and not always have every detail written in a document and instructors use student dialog in a class as part of their course content. In an online course you don't have active dialog and everything has to be planned out and written well for students to understand and learn.
Once a course is developed, approved and deployed the time required to maintain the course may be less than in classroom course.
there in no way I can agree here. Drawing on a career of in class teaching and being new to online development I feel I am starting all over again.
The time to develop will be the same and ever constant as always. But the flexibilty and efficiency to not have to reinvent the wheel I can see as a huge benefit.
How much of your job is online v in classroom. Currently I am 100% class currently. Looking to have more online in the near futere.
How has the change affected how you teach?
What is better? What is worse? What do you look forward to? What do you miss?
Kelly,
It is certainly easier to wait until the last minute to create something for a classroom. To wait until the last minute in an online classroom will be nothing but heartache!
Shelly Crider
George,
There are times when the student feels they are starting all over again as well. So we need to make sure the class is ready and working.
Shelly Crider
I disagree. When planning a course you can have an outline and have ideas where to go based on the discussions. In the online format you have to try to rely on written communication for discussion and can be quite difficult for conveying meaning if students do not understand.
