33,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Sprache: Englisch
The Excellent Online Instructor is a guide for new and seasoned faculty who teach online, those responsible for training and developing online instructors, and administrators who must evaluate online faculty performance. This comprehensive resource describes the qualities of and explains how one can become an excellent online instructor. Written by Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt--noted experts in online instruction--the book * Includes models based in adult learning principles and best practices * Offers guidelines to test instructors' readiness to teach online * Contains ideas for overcoming faculty resistance * Reveals how to develop an effective mentoring program * Shows how to establish a long-term faculty development effort Praise for The Excellent Online Instructor "Palloff and Pratt have a profound understanding of the online educational milieu, its complexities and challenges as well as the potential it opens up to serious educators dedicated to exploiting its full value. Practical and down-to-earth strategies are at the core of what the authors offer the reader in this engaging book." --Michael J. Canuel, CEO, LEARN Quebec "This book examines best practices for effective online teaching and instructor engagement and provides a concise plan for faculty development and effective training methods. Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt have provided another essential resource for the field of online teaching and learning that is a must-read for anyone working with faculty or teaching online in either higher education or K-12." --Kaye Shelton, dean, Online Education, Dallas Baptist University "Whether you are guiding departmental faculty or looking to improve your own online skills, Palloff and Pratt provide practical steps, tools to organize your processes, best practices to emulate, and valuable resources to help you achieve excellence online." --Lynn Olson, dean, Graduate and Professional Studies, St. Joseph's College Online
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 262
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011
Ähnliche
Table of Contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
About This Book
Organization of Contents
Who Will Benefit from Reading This Book?
Acknowledgments
The Authors
Part One: The Excellent Online Instructor
Chapter One: What Are the Characteristics of Excellent Online Teaching?
What Does the Excellent Online Instructor Look Like?
The Importance of Establishing Presence
Engaging Learners and Creating Community
Excellence in Course Development
Providing Effective Facilitation When Teaching Courses Developed by Others
Good Facilitation Online: What Is Involved?
Key Points That Define the Excellent Online Instructor
Becoming Your Own Faculty Developer
Chapter Two: Phases of Development
Faculty Readiness to Teach Online
The Phases of Online Faculty Development
The Key to Understanding the Phases
Faculty Mentoring for Online Teaching
Dealing with Faculty Resistance
Key Points Regarding Training Needs and Phases of Development for the Excellent Online Instructor
Becoming Your Own Faculty Developer
Chapter Three: Elements of Training for Excellence
What Does Good Faculty Training Look Like?
Online, Face-to-Face, or Hybrid: Which Works Best?
Who Should Conduct Training for Online Teaching?
Key Points in Training for Excellence
Becoming Your Own Faculty Developer
Part Two: Supporting the Movement from New to Great
Chapter Four: Models of Faculty Development
A Phased Approach to Online Faculty Development
Establishing a Long-Term Faculty Development Effort
The Learning Community Approach to Online Faculty Development
Working with Adjuncts at a Distance
Training Efficiently
Certificate Programs in Online Teaching
Key Points Regarding Models of Online Faculty Development
Becoming Your Own Faculty Developer
Chapter Five: Mentoring Online Faculty
Common Elements of Mentoring Approaches
Approaches to Mentoring for Online Teaching
Developing an Effective Mentoring Program
What Organizations Can Do to Promote Mentoring
Key Points About Mentoring Online Faculty
Becoming Your Own Faculty Developer
Chapter Six: The Widening Gap
Online Teaching Methods in the K–12 Environment
Characteristics of Excellent Online Teachers
Preservice Teacher Preparation and Professional Development
Coping Effectively with the Issues and Challenges of K–12 Online Teaching
Key Points in K–12 Online Teaching
Becoming Your Own Faculty Developer
Part Three: Connecting the Dots: Faculty Development and Evaluation
Chapter Seven: Linking Training to Faculty Evaluation
Online Course Evaluation and Faculty Evaluation
Managing and Evaluating Faculty at a Distance
Key Points on Linking Faculty Development to Evaluation
Becoming Your Own Faculty Developer
Chapter Eight: Best Practices in the Development of Excellent Online Faculty
Best Practices for Faculty Developers and Faculty Tasked with Faculty Development
Best Practices for Faculty Engaged in Their Own Development
Best Practices for Institutions
A “Best System” for Developing Excellent Online Instructors
Resources for Faculty Developers, Faculty, and Administrators
Appendix A: Resources for Faculty Developers and Those Tasked with Faculty Development
Individual Faculty Training Plan
Developmental Network for Novice Faculty
Sample Training Syllabus for Novice or Beginner Faculty
Introduction to and Best Practices in Online Teaching
Advanced Training Outline
Faculty Training on the Use of Mobile Devices Combined with Web 2.0 Technology
Appendix B: Resources for Faculty
Assessment of Faculty Readiness to Teach Online
Communities of Practice
Certificate Programs in Online Teaching
Online Conferences
Online Journals About Online Teaching
Professional Organizations
Course Evaluation Rubrics
Appendix C: Resources for Administrators of Online Programs
Training Needs Assessment for Online Programs
Self-Evaluation Questions for Faculty
Faculty Evaluation Rubric
References
Index
Advertisement
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
List of Illustrations
Chapter Two: Phases of Development
Figure 2.1 Phases of Online Faculty Development
Chapter Four: Models of Faculty Development
Figure 4.1 Faculty Learning Community
Figure 4.2 Flow of Faculty Training
Chapter Five: Mentoring Online Faculty
Figure 5.1 Sample Developmental Network
Figure 5.2 Mentor Program Format
Chapter Eight: Best Practices in the Development of Excellent Online Faculty
Figure 8.1 Best System for Online Faculty Development
Appendix A: Resources for Faculty Developers and Those Tasked with Faculty Development
Figure A.1 Sample Developmental Network for Novice Faculty Member
List of Tables
Chapter Four: Models of Faculty Development
Table 4.1 Sample Training Model
Pages
cover
contents
iii
iv
ix
xi
xii
xiii
xiv
xv
xvi
xvii
xviii
xix
xxi
xxii
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
89
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
The Excellent Online Instructor
STRATEGIES FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Rena M. Palloff
Keith Pratt
Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
A Wiley Imprint
989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002.
Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Palloff, Rena M., 1950-
The Excellent Online Instructor : Strategies for Professional Development / Rena M. Palloff, Keith Pratt.
p. cm. –
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-63523-0 (pbk.)
978-1-118-00088-5 (ebk)
978-1-118-00089-2 (ebk)
978-1-118-00090-8 (ebk)
1. Web-based instruction. 2. Computer-assisted instruction. 3. Distance education. 4. Effective teaching. I. Title.
LB1044.87.P338 2011
371.33′44678—dc22
2010045578
List of Figures and Tables
FIGURES
Figure 2.1.
Phases of Online Faculty Development
Figure 4.1.
Faculty Learning Community
Figure 4.2.
Flow of Faculty Training
Figure 5.1.
Sample Developmental Network
Figure 5.2.
Mentor Program Format
Figure 8.1.
Best System for Online Faculty Development
TABLES
Table 4.1.
Sample Training Model
Table 7.1.
Dimensions of Teaching Linked to Training and Development Activities
Preface
In September 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast and city of New Orleans. The levees breached and the city was flooded. Delgado Community College lost 70% of its physical plant as a result of the storm, but the server that housed Blackboard, the college's course management system, was on dry ground and functioning. In order to be able to hold some form of a fall semester that would reach Delgado students and engage Delgado faculty, most of whom were scattered all over the United States, the college moved many courses online. With only three days to prepare, Delgado launched a major online initiative. When the floodwaters receded and the fall semester came to an end, the college realized that this piecemeal approach to online teaching wouldn't work in the long run and they began a faculty training effort that continues today. What started with just enough technical training to get courses on Blackboard has morphed into a continuous quality improvement effort focusing on effective online pedagogy.
As of this writing, it is fall 2009 and the H1N1 flu virus is significantly impacting college campuses. The response of many academic institutions is to ask their faculty to prepare to go online—that preparation, for the most part, involves technical instruction on using lecture capture technologies, basics on using Blackboard and other course management systems, using Microsoft Office effectively as a means of sharing documents with students, and so forth. Little to no attention is being paid to what makes online teaching effective—only what can be done in a pinch to get course material online so that students or faculty who are ill can continue to be involved in classes. But what about those faculty whose institutions are not providing such training? How will they prepare? Will they be able to deliver material online if they have not had this experience previously? And will this effort result in a greater effort to provide effective online classes, as happened at Delgado? Although we would love to believe that the Delgado experience is the norm, we are less optimistic given the state of faculty development for online teaching as it exists today.
Recently we conducted several workshops on the topic of online faculty development. What was most interesting to us was that the participants strongly echoed a common theme—we need to get back to basics when training online faculty. What prompted this felt need? The participants cited several reasons, including
Faculty are rarely given the level of training and support they need to begin teaching online, if given training at all, resulting in confusion about how to get started.
Training continues to be focused on the technology in use instead of how to teach in the online environment, resulting in confusion about what to do once the online course begins.
Faculty are busy and often do not participate fully in training.
Faculty lack familiarity with the tools of online teaching.
Often faculty are brought in last-minute to teach a section of a course online and are thrown in with little to no training.
Faculty training takes too much time—time that administrators see as wasted time, time they do not wish to pay for, or time not well spent.
Faculty resist mandatory training—is there a way to make exceptions for seasoned faculty? Can we honor experience somehow?
Although a constructivist approach is generally promoted as the most effective means by which to deliver a course online, faculty resist constructivist approaches to training.
Training should not be a one-shot experience but should be ongoing.
The goals of training are rarely clear—what is it that the institution and students need in order to create an excellent teaching and learning experience?
What about institutions that don't even offer training? What do faculty do there to get up to speed so that they can teach online?
Although we have discussed the need for good faculty training that explores best practices in online teaching rather than the use of technology online, and the demand for online teaching is well documented and continues to grow (Allen & Seaman, 2007), the training of online instructors has not kept pace with the demand for excellence in the online environment, a demand voiced by students and administrators alike. The result has been poorly constructed courses, high levels of student attrition from online courses, and continued allegations that online education is simply not as rigorous as its face-to-face counterpart. Furthermore, faculty are often left on their own to find appropriate training or to create their own approach to online teaching based on conversations with colleagues or information they find online or in journals.
There is no doubt that online education continues to grow. Two-year, four-year, graduate programs, and fully online institutions are all offering online classes in increasing numbers, but the availability of trained faculty to teach these courses continues to be a critical issue across the board. Faculty are rarely provided with training in the pedagogical skills they need to teach online. A 2002 survey of faculty who teach in various disciplines and are located throughout the United States yielded results that appear to be the norm of faculty experience, as 75% indicated that they had received approximately 30 hours of technical training in the course management system they would be using; however, only one-third reported receiving any pedagogical training. A subset of surveyed faculty were interviewed; they described the difficulties they were having engaging students in online discussion and their perceived need for pedagogical training (Pankowski, 2004). We contend, however, that with attention to good training and development, faculty excellence in the online environment can be achieved. The result of excellent course development and delivery would be increased student persistence in online courses and strong course outcomes. The intent of this book is to help faculty who teach online and those who are responsible for their training and development achieve that level of excellence. What, then, makes a successful online instructor and how can excellent instructors be trained and developed? How can faculty become their own trainers–developers to help achieve a goal of excellence in online teaching? These are the central questions that will be explored and addressed in this book.
About This Book
This book is aimed at three audiences. Primarily it is for and about faculty—faculty who are moving into the online environment for the first time or faculty who seek to improve their online teaching practice. In addition, the book is designed to assist faculty developers, as well as those faculty who have been asked to train their peers, to design and deliver effective training for online teaching. Finally, the book is directed at administrators who supervise and evaluate faculty performance in online teaching. Good instructors and instruction are the strongest marketing tools an online course or program can have. Because research evidence suggests that a good instructor is the key to student persistence in online courses, the hiring, training, and evaluation of good online instructors has become high priority for most online institutions. With increasing scale of online class delivery, however, comes the need to recruit and hire faculty who may not have the experience or skills coming into an online course or program that they need. Consequently, providing good training and also providing incentives for keeping good faculty have become critical concerns. Our own experience of training online faculty using an online learning community has shown us that this is a very effective means by which to prepare faculty for online course development and delivery. This book will help readers
Identify faculty who will be effective in the online environment and assess their readiness to teach online
Know what it takes to develop a new instructor in order to promote excellent online teaching
Describe the qualities of a good online instructor and how to evaluate good teaching online
Develop good models of faculty training for online teaching based on adult learning principles and best practices in faculty training
Identify methods and processes that have shown to be successful in training and motivating online instructors
Identify means by which technology can be used to facilitate and enhance the training process
Identify best practices that exemplify excellence in online teaching
Identify means by which faculty can engage in their own training and development to supplement what is being offered by their institutions or replace it if none is offered
Models of effective faculty training and evaluation will be reviewed along with strategies for retaining good faculty and building faculty loyalty to the institution. We also address K–12 educators in this book. The demand for technology integration and online classes in the K–12 sector is also growing and, in many cases, is better structured and funded than it is in the community colleges or higher education. Mentoring has been a practice that has been a standard in teacher development, but is not widely applied for online teaching in higher education. Thus, professional development for teachers is becoming a powerful force and may, in fact, offer models for higher education to follow.
We recognize that training, if offered, continues to focus on the use of technology when faculty are clamoring for more and better information about how to actually teach in the online environment. Although we do not explore specific strategies and suggestions for teaching online, as we have in our other books, in this book we explore ways in which faculty can find and use resources that can assist them in the development of those strategies. In so doing, this book also addresses the need of faculty members who are designated as the coordinator of faculty training or distance learning on their campuses, but who may not be trained faculty developers themselves, to point their faculty colleagues in the right direction. It also provides a means by which faculty can work collaboratively to support one another as they explore what may be unchartered territory for them.
Providing training for faculty in order to help them get started and also to support their ongoing work in online teaching helps. Providing training online through the development of an online learning community for faculty can be even more powerful and effective. And finally, providing faculty with ideas they can use to support their own development may be the ideal, given budgetary constraints and the absence of institutional support. Numerous models exist to support this effort—none is the one “right” way to train faculty—and the review and evaluation of those is an important part of this book. The goal is to develop and present approaches that will not only get the job done, in terms of teaching faculty how to teach online, but also that will develop faculty excellence in online teaching. Excellent online faculty attract students to courses and programs and help retain those students. Excellent online faculty also help improve the quality and rigor of the courses they teach. We intend, through this book, to encourage institutions not just to train faculty to do online work but also to promote excellence. We also intend to encourage faculty to seek excellence in their online teaching, whether or not their institutions support them through the provision of training in doing so.
Organization of Contents
This book is divided into three parts and ends with several resources to support the work of faculty, faculty developers, and administrators in pursuit of good faculty development and evaluation. Each chapter ends with a review of key points made in the chapter along with tips for the instructor who wishes to pursue training on his or her own to help maximize the benefits of training oneself. The sections, entitled Becoming Your Own Faculty Developer, will include resources and suggestions for self-development as an excellent online instructor.
Part One provides the groundwork for the book by focusing on the characteristics of the excellent online instructor in Chapter 1, how that instructor develops over time in Chapter 2, and the elements of good training in Chapter 3. This part of the book emphasizes the importance of incorporating adult learning theory into training, as well as working with the competencies and experience a faculty member already possesses. In addition, an overarching focus of Part One will be faculty readiness—How can that be assessed and how can we incorporate factors related to readiness into training?
Part Two of the book looks at more specific topics related to faculty development. Chapter 4 looks at the various models employed to train and develop faculty, suggests the most effective techniques and strategies for faculty development, and looks at a common question—Is face-to-face training more effective than online training? The benefit of both, along with exploration of hybrid models, is explored in this chapter. Chapter 5 looks at the important topic of mentoring and its role in faculty development for online teaching. Formal mentoring programs are reviewed along with suggestions for the development of both formal and informal mentoring approaches. Chapter 6 is devoted to the topic of professional development in the K–12 sector and includes a review of what is currently being offered there along with suggestions for closing the gap between teacher education and K–12 online teaching.
Part Three connects faculty development with faculty evaluation. Chapter 7 looks specifically at this topic and suggests means by which administrators or those responsible for faculty evaluation can most effectively connect training and development to evaluation tasks, with the desired outcome that the results of evaluation should drive training. Suggestions include ways to involve faculty in their own evaluation, as well as peer evaluation. Chapter 8 closes the book by speaking to each of the three audiences for whom the book was written, pulling together ideas on best practices in faculty development and evaluation and proposing a best practices model that readers can adopt or adapt for their own institutions.
Finally, three resources are provided—one for faculty developers or those tasked with coordinating faculty development on their campuses, a second for faculty to support them in their own development, and a third for administrators or those who conduct faculty evaluation and who develop training programs for faculty.
Who Will Benefit from Reading This Book?
The primary audience for this book is higher education professionals, including faculty engaged in online teaching, as well as instructional designers and other academic support staff involved in the development, design, and facilitation of online courses and training and support of online instructors. An additional primary audience includes other professionals in higher education who oversee the training and evaluation function of online instructors, such as faculty who are designated as the coordinators of faculty development or distance learning and may or may not be prepared to do so, as well as those charged with professional development in the K–12 sector. Department chairs, deans, and other administrators who are responsible for faculty evaluation will constitute yet another audience for the book. They will benefit not only from the suggestions about what constitutes good training but also how to link training to evaluation in order to create a comprehensive system that makes sense to them and to the faculty being evaluated.
It is our hope that this book will positively influence the direction of training and development for online teaching. Although we advocate for the provision of extensive training on every campus, we realize that difficult financial times makes this almost impossible. We firmly believe, however, that by taking our suggestions for self-training and development to heart, faculty can become their own best asset in their quest for excellence. We further hope that all faculty who read this book and follow our suggestions to improve their online teaching practice will pay their positive experiences forward by becoming a resource to their colleagues. Working together collaboratively and thus forming a community of practice not only benefits faculty but also pays enormous dividends to our students as they experience effective, excellent instruction. This, in turn, will have the impact of improving online instruction as a whole. It's a big dream, but not out of reach.
Acknowledgments
This book is for all the faculty who have worked with us in our online classes and programs, workshops, and training seminars—thank you for making your needs known and for seeking excellence for yourselves. We hope that this book supports you on your journey.
Once again, we have to thank the patient, supportive, and dedicated people at Jossey-Bass. Thanks in particular to Erin Null and David Brightman—we so appreciate you both! Thanks also to Jessica Egbert for pushing us to write this one and make this contribution to the field of online learning.
We always have to thank Fielding Graduate University and Judy Witt, the Dean of the School of Educational Leadership and Change, for support of the Teaching in the Virtual Classroom Program. The program gives us an opportunity to work with very talented instructors who are interested in nothing more than seeking excellence in their own online work. Mostly, we thank our participants—the “students” in the TVC program for their contributions to our ongoing learning. Virtual hugs to you all! We cannot thank you enough.
Thanks, of course, to our families—your patience and love is what helps us do what we do and pushes us to seek our own level of excellence.
The Authors
Rena M. Palloff is a managing partner of Crossroads Consulting Group, working with institutions, organizations, and corporations interested in the development of online distance learning and training programs and conducting faculty development training and coaching. In addition, Rena has consulted extensively in health care, academic settings, and addiction treatment for well over twenty years. Rena is faculty at Fielding Graduate University, in the masters' degree program in Organizational Management and Development and also in the School of Educational Leadership and Change. She is also adjunct faculty at Capella University in the School of Public Service Leadership. Additionally, she has taught classes on organizational behavior and management and leadership on an adjunct basis for the International Studies Program at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas, in various sites throughout the Pacific Rim, and was core faculty at John F. Kennedy University in Holistic Studies.
Dr. Palloff received a bachelors degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a masters degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She holds a masters degree in organizational development and a Ph.D. in human and organizational systems from Fielding Graduate University.
Keith Pratt began his government career as a computer systems technician with the U.S. Air Force in 1967. He served in various positions, including supervisor of computer systems maintenance, chief of the Logistics Support Branch, chief of the Telecommunications Branch, and superintendent of the Secure Telecommunications Branch. After leaving the Air Force, Pratt held positions as registrar and faculty (Charter College), director (Chapman College), and trainer and consultant (The Growth Company). As an adjunct faculty member at Wayland Baptist University and at the University of Alaska, Pratt taught courses in communications, business, management, organizational theories, and computer technology. He was assistant professor in the International Studies Program and chair of the Management Information Systems Program, main campus and overseas, at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas. He currently teaches online at Fielding Graduate University, Wayland Baptist University, Capella University, and Walden University.
Pratt graduated from Wayland Baptist University with a dual degree in business administration and computer systems technology. He has an M.S. in human resource management (with honors) from Chapman University, an M.S. in organizational development, a Ph.D. in human and organizational systems from Fielding Graduate University, and an honorary doctorate of science from Moscow State University.
Palloff and Pratt are managing partners in Crossroads Consulting Group. Since 1994, they have collaboratively conducted pioneering research and training in the emerging areas of online group facilitation, face-to-face and online community building, program planning and development of distance learning programs, and management and supervision of online academic programs. In conjunction with Fielding Graduate University, they developed and are core faculty in the Teaching in the Virtual Classroom academic certificate program designed to assist faculty in becoming effective online facilitators and course developers.
Part OneThe Excellent Online Instructor
Chapter OneWhat Are the Characteristics of Excellent Online Teaching?
There is a myth that has existed in the world of online teaching since it began. The myth asserts that it is easy to teach online—all one needs to do is to move exactly what was being done in the face-to-face classroom into the online classroom. Technologies such as lecture capture video and PowerPoint have made it easy for an instructor to lecture online, and simply writing up and posting assignments by copying and pasting into the course management system in use is not difficult. But can this be considered good instruction online?
There are a significant number of instructors who are sincerely interested in online education and its possibilities. Early enthusiasts explored alternative ways of teaching in this environment and became champions for this form of teaching and learning, encouraging others to join them in new and exciting ways of delivering courses. However, some instructors have been told that they must develop and teach online classes. They are being given no choice in the matter and are reluctantly entering the online environment. Many feel lost, not even sure where to begin. Others have heard and believe the myth that the key to success is content; simply migrate the content that has been taught in the face-to-face classroom into the online classroom, and all will be well. Others learn how to use the software that is designed to teach the course and think that this is all they need to know to move successfully to the online environment. Yet others simply set up a course and then virtually “walk away,” leaving students to fend
