Online Insruction

What makes a successful online course, how does one prepare for it, and how is that success measured? These are the questions which will be answered as we progress through this course. The role of an online facilitator is far more complicated than I anticipated. This observation is reflected by the measure of success of an online course, for a good classroom instructor does not a successful online instructor make. An instructor who is trained in classroom teaching has a tremendous learning curve to transition to an online based course. Just because one is a good classroom teacher does not necessarily imply one will be a good online instructor, nor does the content of a classroom based course transfer easily to a web-based course. Simply posting one’s power point presentation or links to articles relevant to a chosen topic which are available does not make a successful classroom course a successful online course. Without some sort of interaction from students, the online course is little more than a fancy correspondence course using modern technology instead of the US Postal Service. What makes an online course successful is the interaction between the facilitator and the students and perhaps even more importantly interaction amongst the students themselves. It is this interaction which creates the give and take of classroom discussion and is accomplished online through asynchronous communications such as Blackboard and blogs. Special training is required for facilitators to be successful online instructors. Success is marked by students completing courses in a specific amount of time, courses which effectively measure the content area expectations and contain thorough and effective assessment. The Special Topic Evaluation handout can be used as a guide tool when evaluating the structure of an online class and the responsibilities of a facilitator. I found in reading it that it gave me good ideas of items to observe as an FIT looking in on another professor’s online class and suggested actions I should take to be an “effective” facilitator.