One of the online institutions that I work for requires instructors to take at least two contuning education classes each semester. It seems a little excessive to me, though. I think that two a year would be sufficient.
Thais,
I agree with you. There could be an option of creating rubrics, finding and incorporating updated online material in existing courses, and so on. Less boring for you and more specific growth that can be documented for accreditors. Perhaps if you suggested these alternatives, it might cause some rethinking.
Linda Scharp
Many of our policies changed with the implementation of the Integrity Rules in July 2011 but the most impactful seemed to be attendance.
Previously students participated in an online class by logging into the portal and enetering the classroom. Now participation is defined as posting in the discussion forum or uploading a document.
The institute where I work currently use hybrid classes. The classes are front to front, but the homeworks and tests are online. Also the students can access to a online class where they can find practice problems and resources for each competency.
Lianett,
This approach to hybrid learning is new to me. Does it work well?
Linda Scharp
Mary,
Hmm. I think posting and uploading offer a better picture of student participation.
Linda Scharp
Online delivery of courses and programs are strictly completed through a rigorous form of training to ensure the best instructors.
At my school we are currently setting up chat rooms for our teachers. This way they can have office hours for both resident and online students.
New policies regarding online delivery of courses and programs at our institution are that students most post attendance in classes by posting an answer to a discussion, turning in a homework assignment or quiz. Another one is a pilot policy that students taking entry Math and English college classes must submit to a computer compentency test before being enrolled in school to see any weaknesses they may have so that they can be corrected and hopefully have a better online college experience.
Tanveer,
Good. If instructors are trained, they will be more likely to stay on for future semesters.
Linda Scharp
I too agree that chat rooms and response to all emails is very important because there is no face to face contact. Responding to emails in a timely manner would make the student feel more connected with the instructor.
One of the new policies we have is how often instructors have to provide "direct instruction" by participating in online threaded discussions. We are in the process of debating this now. Some faculty say there should be no minimum requirements, others say 3/7 days per week, others say 4/7 days per week, others say 5/7 days per week.
I prefer 4/7 days per week.
We are in the process of add more online classe.
Currently I am using Moodle as the portal for our LMS system. Moodle is a free-ware program easy to use after a little training or reading of several books. I like the way it works and the applications it provides. I have Moodle set up on a Linux Server but it is ported for Windows if this is your preference.
Online instructors need more training in order to deliver better courses in my institution
Online instructors need to take courses in order to improve their skills. At this time in my institution we're implementing new online programs which allow the students to fulfill their goals.
In our institution teachers must take two or more continue education courses each semester with the purpose of been updated and obtain better results.In the case of our school it is a great help as we are implementing new programs and online classes.
That sounds good!!!We should not sit on our knowledge,learning new things everyday help us as professionals and at the same time we are helping the institution that employs us
At the time we are preparing the teachers who are going to be in charge of developing the courses on line.
Actually, we are working really hard on the lesson plans of the different subjects to start with them online. We have only one course on line so far.
Students will need to post attendance at least five days in a discussion thread along with a minium of three responses to someone elses thread.
