My typical e-learning project consists of 5 steps.

(1) Build a generic structure of your course (Welcome - instructions for learners - objectives - content - assessment - summary - what's next)

(2) Design screen templates that fit the topic (consider fonts [not more than two], colors, logo, navigation concept)

(3) gather assets (graphics, videos, people on screen), get ideas from magazines, movies etc. related to the topic (being designed by professionals and serving as a pattern)

(4) create the content

(5) work out the assessment (how the learners demonstrate that they understand)

Give learners reasons to interact with the presentation, i.e. to pull information from the content, by letting them make decisions and find out how well they have done; but that's up to your instructional design model.

Thank you Michael for your input!

Well, though I am lecturing - I had enrolled in one of the MOOCs courses in order to see how it goes - well, you need to have

(1) ilectures with your face and in a natural atmosphere

(2) quizzes

(3) case studies

(4) reading material

(5) markers or assistants who would evaluate the work of the students

(6) moderators of the site

(7) technical assistant

and the list goes on.

Regards

Establish a schedule for the activities to be strictly followed;

Make available nice reading materials for the topics or recommend nice bibliography;

Deliver quizzes for the materials;

Make the students to interact;

Be present as much as possible, even for short time;

Students works has to be evaluated as soon as possible and not left for later evaluation.

I have participated in three MOOCs now - Edinburgh's E-learning and Digital Cultures (twice - once as a Community Teaching Assistant); Penn State's Introduction to Art: concepts and techniques; MoMA's Art and Inquiry. My recommendation would be:

1) Weekly video introduction to course content and themes +/- video lectures

2) Access to open source videos that illustrate theme - for viewing and thinking about

3) Access to open source reading material - basic and extension - but only a couple of item per week

3) Facebook and Google+ and Twitter discussion spaces. At least of these if the official site - and there are weekly spaces for the participants to post tips to each other - to help each other - to share their thoughts...

4) Encourage students to Blog - possibly quad-blog - with this as the place that reflective and inter-personal learning happens

5) Community Teaching Assistants - who support participants in the Web 2.0 spaces

6) Assessment = submission of an artefact PLUS peer review and feedback on two or more of the artefacts submitted by other participants.

Best - and good luck,

Sandra

@Sandra, I was wondering what do you think is effective content delivery? Why is something important to digest while studying? What makes you learn online?

One thing I am missing from the above... I recommend using an LMS (e.g., Moodle, as it has extensive functionality "out of the box" and does not cost anything), as this will provide a single space where participants meet.

This does not mean I am biased against blogs, Facebook/Twitter/Google+, but this means that there are many "places to visit" for students if they want to keep in touch with what you are trying to do.

A sensible LMS will allow you to put all elements in one place (or at least, provide a unique link to each of them). Plus, forums that allow for discussion among participants about the contents, pace, .... of the course are very important. Again, this functionality is "free" in any decent LMS.

Finally, make your commitment to the course and your enthusiasm for the topic visible and noticeable. This includes a warm welcome, some information on why the course exists or is "relevant", and responding quickly to questions (in person or through assistants). If the teacher seems keen on the course, you will find it easier to get students interested, as well.

In my book, http://goo.gl/hF2E5r, I deal this topic with profusion. As essential requirements for online courses, I would point out these:

1. Quality contents.

2. Integral tutorial action.

3. Multidirectional communication.

4. Backing an organizational structure and management.

5. Appropriate digital technology

6. Pedagogy. Methodological basis.

Another issue would be the structure of a course in networking.

hello...

I'm an online facilitator for COL and one crucial factor I attend to very well is my learners profile. Time has taught me that you can have all the right tools, techniques and name it all and still not get adequate participation from your students. I always start with a preworkshop, using questionnaires and social media to interact with them. It has really helped considering that my participants are from all over Africa and familiarity with tools for elearning varies.

i think Michael gave you a great start. When I teach students who are dispersed I ensure that

- I use authentic learning artifacts - this means that my assessments, discussion, etc... all are generic enough so that any student can use their own experiences to participate.

- I include some reflective piece in my assessments - this helps students really think about the whys, hows and whens of the topic

- I include some peer-evaluation portion - this helps builds a community of learners environment

- I ensure that the synchronous meetings allow students to voice their challenges and also it creates a forum whereby they can assist each other.

Hope this helps...:-)

During the design and review of your course, continuously refer to Chickering and Gamson's principles of teaching and learning - and keep asking yourself, "am I employing strategies toward the goal of applying these principles?" The principles are: Student-Faculty Contact, Cooperation Among Students, Active Learning, Prompt Feedback, Time on Task, High Expectations, and Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning.

Here is an excellent guide for those new to online teaching: http://sites.duke.edu/onlineguide/.

Thank you all for sharing your strategies and tools. I also took an Online course to experience online learning. I never gotten a response from the instructor from MOOC.

I created a chat room to give immediate feedback and for Q/A with my students. It is not a mandated activity but some students seemed to benefit from it.

Hello to all ,

I agree with Guido . An LMS ( I also really like Moodle ) is important. I am quoting Moodle because it is one of the best tools for this. I think Guido justified very well the need to use an LMS .

Tutoring and mentoring students in short follow-up . Diverse and quality material as the recalled Lorenzo . Diversified activities too. Moodle allows you to create chat , synchronous and asynchronous rooms , making collective productions ( wiki ) , post videos and materials in various formats and allows to monitor the development of each student .

Using interactive tools that put students , tutors and teachers in discussion . Requirement of knowledge production ( design, portfolio , social intervention , political, cultural , etc. . ) as a result and an assessment system and focused on what you expect students to be able at the end of the course .

Not exactly a script but I think are important elements for a good online course .

See you later ,

S.

A well explored LMS system is, in my point of view, a good principle. Students when using many tools will become "multi" divided.

Dear Giang,

since you have online participants from many universities our awarded inter-university virtual learning environment (VLE) ITC-Euromaster might give you useful information: http://euromaster.itcedu.net. The VLE includes LMS, Virtual classroom and Course pool.

Read (and cite) also my papers related to the ITC-Euromaster: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/257990854_Inter-university_virtual_learning_environment, http://www.researchgate.net/publication/259502526_ITC-Euromaster_Course_Pool_for_AEC_Engineers

Let's exchange ideas! A joint scientific paper with your experiences would be great idea.

Chapter Inter-university Virtual Learning Environment

Article ITC-Euromaster course pool for AEC engineers

The answers that everyone has give above are good. I'd like to add a few comments.

First, a number have recommended using a Learning Management system (LMS). While that's OK, I would like to make the distinction between an LMS and an Online Learning Environment (OLE). The difference is simple: an LMS usually has wonderful administrative tools, because they are purchased for institutions by administrators who know little about online learning, but a lot about administration. Often the online learning environment that is part of the system is quite poorly developed. On the other OLEs often have poor administrative tools, but more affordances for student learning. I realize that teachers often don't get to choose, but if you can, choose the environment that best suits whatever learning theory you are trying to promote. Otherwise you will have a (perhaps poor) learning theory forced on you by they structure of the environment.

The second point has to do with the type of online learning you are doing. Synchronous online learning can be done via Skype (which you are already doing,) via virtual worlds or chat spaces. Since you have students in wildly different time zones, synchronous environments are perhaps not the best choice–some students will have to be up in the middle of the night or very early morning. Asynchronous online learning is often best done via an OLE, as mentioned above. This would probably be the most effective choice for your course.

Practical advice about online learning, setting up online classes, etc. can be found in Palloff's and Pratt's "Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom. The realities of online teaching." It's quite a good book (reference below.)

For my online classes, I have used Scardamalia's and Bereiter's Knowledge Building approach. A good place to start would be Scardalamia and Bereiter (2006) Knowledge Building: Theory, Pedagogy and Technology (reference below).

References:

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2001). Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom. The realities of online teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2006). Knowledge Building: Theory, Pedagogy, and Technology [Online]. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (pp. 97-118). New York: Cambridge University Press.

It depends of learning design and model. I comment some previous answers

Michael Brückner is thinking in a content oriented course. Of course he cited objectives but he forgot that activities will help student to get these objectives, and, by other way, he has not considered the tutor role – guiding activities. I don’t like this kind of course but it is by large the most usual.

Maria Restivo is thinking in an activities oriented course. She also prepares some materials but she insisted in quizzes for them, in making students to interact and even the evaluation was oriented to students’ works. This is a good model for courses oriented to competences. It considers the well-established principle of learning by doing, and besides it is very attractive to students.

Nkiru Banjoko is thinking in a coaching oriented course. Here the key is the role of tutor to adapt materials, to promote interactions and other kind of participation. In some ways it could be a “container course” as opposite to previous models that we could define as “content courses”, either based in activities or materials.

There are other models but Nkiru highlighted a very interesting aspect: perhaps the model to suit does not depend only on objectives/competences, subject, level, and students profile… but also on cultural aspects. And this is very interesting because everyone seems to accept without doubt that we can deliver the same course online over the entire world.

Once clarified that there is not one common design, I can contribute with two ideas.

After more than 40 years as teacher I see that there is only one aspect that determines the success: the participation of students. When I say “participation” I mean “actual participation”, that is, students participate in taking decisions about objectives, contents, assessment procedures, and so on. As a result, perhaps the activities are not the bes,. but, for students, this is “their” course, “their” project and they will work with intrinsic motivation as hard as needed.

The other idea is very simple: individualization. You are experts and that doesn’t need more explanation.

I felt happy when I found that these two ideas were clarified at the first three and half minutes of this interview with Asimov:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIUo51qXuPQ

Enjoy it.

I agree with these lists but for my online courses I also try to think through the student engagement and interaction opportunities. For example as I look at the content I have just delivered I usually have a couple of questions I post for discussion on the class listserv or blog. I set expectations that students participate in these discussions and keep the discussion period to about 5 days so that hopefully there will be some "energy" in the postings.

Here is a link with several tools for quality assurance in online courses. The elements in these rubrics indicate clearly what should be considered.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s35/sh/979bcfe4-fe35-45db-8e54-86a3b50f8515/415fb5ab79f2387b143b6cd85b673fa0

best,

--Stella.

I really appreciate Antonio's synthesis!

I must admit I am trying to get the KEY for students interaction...it is not easy.

I also have remote and virtual labs. Yes, I produce many materials using technologies in order to make them more interactive than simply reading contents. But I am still looking for the KEY :-)

This is the hard task...

As a full time educational designer in a university centre that supports our academic staff to deliver their courses online I have found this a very stimulating and thought provoking discussion. Thank you Giang Van Ngo for asking your question.

In response to your question, and in particular to Maria's previous post, I believe the 'KEY' starts with first being a good teacher. Good teachers understand the world of their students and how to engage them in learning. Without this, online learning can become just 'busy work' for students and teachers alike. Watch how good teachers engage their students and become a student yourself online to understand what it feels like to learn outside a traditional classroom or lecture theatre. Yes Maria, it is a hard task for academics to learn this but they do not need to do it alone. Consider how many people it takes to make a feature length movie. Similarly, it takes a wide range of expertise to make totally compelling learning online but it still all starts with a good storyteller/teacher. As for one KEY thing: I make sure I let students know how long (nominal duration) an activity (video, interactive multimedia presentation, quiz, reading, forum, etc) will take so both students and teachers alike can plan their time. I hope you find these reflections and suggestions useful in your own online learning design and delivery.

A very useful question and conversation--thanks to all. Here's a graphical representation of an e-learning framework that I've used to help design and develop online courses, and that I use to support other academic staff in developing their own courses:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14852568@N04/3363891963/

Well, what an interesting discussion... As for students' interaction - you have to be careful with what you ask students... and students usually would not participate unless there are marks attached to the participation - or such participation would lead to improvement of their mark in an assignment...

Just thought to share this point!? any thoughts how this can be reduced...

Irena almost said what I was going to say - that quality teaching/teacher is quality teaching/teacher. Your philosophy, aims etc as a lecturer won't differ between online and F2F classes. The TOOLS you use to achieve them will. Ponder what works best for you and your (F2F) students now (assuming your teach physical classes) and then look for a means of transporting those aspects online.

It is unlikely you'll find one comprehensive tool that will suit (you, your students, the content), and will likely have to use a mix of things (my university can take a dim view of using "unsanctioned" tools and platforms - control, legality, non-university access, etc).

You might consider a webinar platform rather than skype - easier to record the proceedings for those in significantly different timezones, more control, etc. There are free ones around if you just want to give a webinar a go and see how it works for you.

You might also consider not trying to do everything at once. Take it bite-size (and rather basic - less to go wrong during your learning curve) - run a webinar and see how it goes, then try a group-based wiki and see how they like it, and so on. Better to become an expert gradually than drown when you first dive in. Good luck!

Thank you all for sharing your expertise.

@ Andrej Tibaut: please keep in touch with me via my e-mail at [email protected] or [email protected]. I am happy if we could produce a joint paper of the same interest.

Mostly any online course has the following basic components:

lecture (word, pdf, chapter readings...etc.)

assignment

quiz

discussion threads.

Anything more than that is optional but you can't have a course without the above components (some schools don't have quizzes and might have a midterm and a final instead).

If you're writing about online learning and would like a partner I would love to join you :) I have a couple of papers published in online learning (one already published and the other one just submitted it for publication).

Good luck

When we are aware about constant moving of students profile it is hard to believe that we are sure about the KEY.

It is interesting to note the evolution of those arriving and leaving University - just a look!

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Teens-and-social-media/Part-1/Internet-adoption.aspx

About teaching and Learning at a Distance I would recommend the book "Teaching and Learning at a Distance, Foundations of Distance Education", ISBN 0-13-119630-8, M. Simonson, S. Smaldino, M. Albright, Susan Zvacek.

My answer is experiential as an online MS student It was longer, so I have attached as pdf here for you. Thanks

To Theordora Issa's question/point regarding students expecting marks attached to participation - my approach is to set up the expectation that there will be participation stating that it is a requirement for the class to post a certain number of times and that these postings should be spread across all the discussions. I'm able to monitor how often and when students post and use these statistics in the early classes to reinforce with individual emails good participation and/or to point out poor participation levels thta need to be improved. Often in the latter case I'm able to identify students who are struggling with time management or the course content.

I do not comment on content in postings unless it is grossly off topic or not respectful. Sometimes I add to the discussion but find that very quickly it becomes student owned and purposeful.

Very generous of all participants sharing their comments. However, I wonder how much time of preparation is needed as compared to classical courses! My first impression is that more preparation is needed specially if using a mix of approaches to measure students' outcomes.

@Hussin: This is where the university should have ancillary staff to help you. The first year around is really tough on time. Weekends are for work.

I agree with Ian that first time offerings are definitely extra work and for all offerings you probably do more work upfront to have everything thought through and ready. Over time, because my classes are asynchronous I find them easier to manage because I'm not committed to three hours on a particular day but that may reflect my priorities and desire to keep my time more flexible.

Michael's steps create a very solid structure. User interface is also very important, having the most important links accessible from anywhere in the site, i.e. access to a help button either teacher's or peer's such as a forum or chat room (chat sessions should be scheduled). As Maria says, it is important to be present as much as possible, some groups may participate more than others o its important to encourage them to participate. Make sure you communicate with your students; this will avoid the feeling of being alone in the course and motivate them to stay on schedule.

I make sure the assets I use are appropriate for the content is being thought and standardized in format (i.e. always using real people and not cartoons or drawings). I agree with Mark in having these suggestions implemented at your own pace especially if this is the first time giving the course and do not have staff helping you.

It helps if you draw up for yourself a house-style guide to remind yourself of your decisions.

I have never taught an online class, myself, but I have taken several, and I can tell you that there were a few things that stood out to me that made one professor's classes much more enjoyable for me than some others I had taken. In fact, I sought out more classes taught by this particular professor because I enjoyed the first so much.

1 - Have a clear schedule of lessons and discussions that is laid out from the beginning of the class - and stick to it. When sudden changes are made in an online course, students do not always get the information in a timely manner - they may not be able to check in on a particular day, for example.

2 - Encouraging discussion between students by making it part of their grade is great, and often leads to some interesting discussion threads, but there should be a discussion leader to facilitate and lead the discussions, as well. If there is a way that this can be doled out to the students weekly (an additional grade, for instance, for being the discussion leader of the week) that would be great, but my most enjoyable - and informative - discussion boards were always with the professor as discussion facilitator. This, obviously, takes a large time commitment.

3 - Comments on progress and any grades should be given out in a timely manner. It is rather frustrating to get halfway through a semester and have no idea where you stand in the grade department.

4 - It is also nice to try and respond to communications from your students as soon as possible. Particularly with online students who do not have the face-to-face contact with you, there is a certain feeling of disconnectedness. Some of that can be overcome with a good sense of communication flow.

I hope this helps! Good luck!

I am enjoying this discussion…thank you all!

I have been delivering online lectures for nearly 5 years. My lectures combine sync and async mode online lectures.

1) Lecture workflow: my experience is that well designed online course must be guided by an explicit workflow (not only schedule) which gives student opportunity to navigate from lecture to lecture even if they skip a lecture. However the workflow is not necessarily fixed and I often leave to students to decide what level of detail they want me to present example/exercise during an online lecture.

2) Teacher's efficiency: I don't like to waste my time for content preparation with authoring tools that doesn't make me efficient all the time in the course workflow. That's why I use tools (like LateX for PDF) that are independent of proprietary formats (like SWF). I would reference individual textbook chapters in LMS as (file) resources with fixed URLs to chapters in a PDF file). I like to put my textbooks to my cloud (Dropbox) instead of uploading/integrating them to LMS so that I can easy upload new version of textbook without changing links in LMS.

3) Lecture recordings: Record your lectures so that students can follow after they miss your lecture. This is a common functionality in virtual classrooms (like Adobe Connect). Publish URL of lecture recording immediately after your lecture to your LMS.

4) Statistics: Well designed granularity of your content gives you possibility to measure usage statistics of your course resources. The statistics is useful feedback for your next year class.

Hope this information is useful for someone.

Thank you very much for your sharing, Adrej Tibaut. It is of great use to me. I fail to send you a message on RG, dont know why? So, if you have an idea for a joint paper, please e-mail me at [email protected] or at [email protected]. I look forward to having further connection with you.

My online experience

Sharing my experience on online course at MS level, I would be interested in focusing at international students. Starting with application, be prepared with TOEFL early and evaluated transcripts, have a Dollar account where applicable. Not all courses are practically tenable online no matter how convincing the ad reads. Quality MS programs are generally expensive in my view. Do not go for the ‘Diplomavilles’ which are all over the internet. Source for an accredited university offering online courses. Look for one that offers a possibility of the same course being offered to fulltime resident students with an online option. It might be helpful to know if they have experience with online international students qualifying from the program.

Fast internet connectivity is a must but you will also need to access your course while on the move, so you will need a Modem and as much as possible WIFI. It is advisable to do online exams on a wired internet, never on WIFI, from experience it is more stable, so have your IT configure it for you.

Resources can be a challenge to get especially if textbooks need to used. You must use the exact edition your course instructor recommends or else you will run into serious trouble and it might be too late. Ask to know which materials are to used on time. Some online bookstores do not ship to some destinations and you might need someone to source them for you and post them. However modules which utilize published online work as core course materials are the best. Introduce yourself to the research librarian to have a personal communication from time to time. The program administrator and an academic advisor/mentor can be very helpful.

Take only what you can handle per semester. Some online courses especially with 3 credits and above are better off taken alone and in any case any course with 4 credits and above needs a longer semester. Unless you are a dedicated full time online student then it is advisable to take your time and enjoy the blessing that goes with one course per semester, off course that will mean taking longer on the program but it is a better sacrifice and is worth it. Circumstances or poor performance might mean you drop one therefore care to know how you are progressing from time to time from your professor. For graduate students 85% or equivalent of B+ is what you will require to be retained in the program, to attract potential scholarships.

If you are new to the platform, get adequate orientation to e.g. Blackboard, Canvas. You will need to sharpen your online library searching skills. Familiarize yourself with Webinars, Skype etc. Download whatever you need early, all activities/materials for each module say in the first week of the course. You might get trouble with some articles and request from others in the class/group. Do not send articles to anyone, send links instead. Subscribe to some credible sites that provide case studies like Harvard Business Review, National Academies Press.

Group norming must be quick and be as open as you can to each other. You will need to settle in as soon as possible and feel at ease with each other as the pace picks up. Remain royal and trustworthy to your group members, be productive in the discussion forum, be timely, punctual, orderly, with well researched responses. Remain within reach of your group, it can be very frustrating when they cannot get your timely response. Log in a minimum of twice a day on to the discussion forum, or just snoop around. It can get worse when they choose to ignore you! The instructor will notice and you will score poorly for low participation. One thing that works: always volunteer to do the donkey work. Do your patch as thoroughly as you can each time and everyone will build confidence in you.

Time zones between your host institution and geographical location can be upsetting especially when deadlines are approaching, a scheduled webinar or chat, I have an 11 hours difference and there was a lot of adjusting. I prefer to do my coursework at home and do all downloads at my workplace, where I am more engaged with other activities. But please pick a timetable what works for you. On the minimum never walk without your course work even if it means saving it in a flash disk if you cannot have your computer.

Some modules may be tailored with residents or citizens in mind and might have a ‘foreign language, culture’, it will be challenging but it does not take long to catch up. Just run along. It gets interesting with time.

Above all else do not hesitate to ask for HELP.

About this author

Simon Kamau just completed coursework in Human Technology Interphase partial fulfilment for MS Nursing Leadership & Health care Systems Management, University of Colorado Denver, USA. He works as a Graduate Assistant in the BSc Nursing program University of Kabianga, Kenya. His link is: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon_Kamau/publications/

Give a look on this book (free on line) : http://www.iiep.unesco.org/?id=1805

I would say a great chance to interaction with the material and the group and if it possible the adviser/mentor. Don't post videos or material and leave it there, human beings need interaction.

You must know very well your audience: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11162-013-9305-8

You need to understand what does Online means: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1126&context=sferc&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fas_ylo%3D2013%26q%3Dcourses%2Bonline%26hl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D0%2C14#search=%22courses%20online%22

You need to manage emotions

This is indeed an interesting discussion, in light of the focus of technology use in education. I certainly agree with those who state the importance of interaction. I have taken a number of online courses and did not enjoy any of them. If I had to cite the main reason for my disappointment it would be the lack of interaction (with the user interface and with the instructor). I recently took a defensive driving class online - hated it! Also, I don't think giving a few multiple choice questions and providing immediate feedback on answers count as sufficient interaction - you can't tell if I guessed all my correct answers. I would favor questions that include images and require matching over regular multiple choice questions.

Thank you for sharing your insight and resource, Alma. I think the most important part of online teaching is the instructor's engagement and his/her immediate feedback. I have taught and taken courses online and I know when the instructor has no interaction with the class, it can be a lonely and lost experience.

Dear Giang Van Ngo

I suggest to have a look at an article I co authored with regards to the evaluation of hypermedia courseware as evaluation is closely related to design. The article was written in 2003 but I believe that is still useful. Elissavet Georgiadou, & Economides, A. Anastasios. (2003). An Evaluation Instrument for Hypermedia http://www.ifets.info/journals/6_2/4.html (ISSN 1436-4522)

Thank you all for your generous sharing. Keep enriching our network!

Very interesting ideas above.

Just want to add that for on-line learning, one should stress more on 'learning' rather than 'online'... so just dumping available material onto a website and putting in a discussion board will most likely not help. It will most likely require a lot of (and timely!) interaction and feedback between the facilitator and learner.

It goes without saying that being comfortable with a learning management system is a prerequisite to designing an online course.

regards, raza

Raza, you pointed out an important issue in your last statement since instructors will have hard time using a system without knowing its know how.

@Raza, I can only second your comments. Students online doesn't mean instructor's offline! And instructors being online means they should better know their media and tools (or delete the content altogether before wasting students' time).

I really enjoy the discussion and feel grateful to your sharing. Regarding the motivation and engagement, Dr Curtis Bonk has released what he calls 'TEC_VARIETY' to enhance online learning/teaching interaction:

•Tone/Climate: Psych Safety, Comfort, Belonging

•Encouragement: Feedback, Responsive, Supports

•Curiosity: Fun, Fantasy, Control

•Variety: Novelty, Intrigue, Unknowns

•Autonomy: Choice, Flexibility, Opportunities

•Relevance: Meaningful, Authentic, Interesting

•Interactive: Collaborative, Team-Based, Community

•Engagement: Effort, Involvement, Excitement

•Tension: Challenge, Dissonance, Controversy

•Yields: Goal Driven, Products, Success, Ownership

For Further details, please visit: http://blog.cengage.com/?top_blog=adding-some-tec-variety-to-online-teaching-and-learning

Raza, Hussin, and Michael, along with others in this forum, have touched on a topic that is crucial for designing and teaching online courses, and that is INTERACTION. Many participants in this discussion have focused on lectures, videos, multimedia, and overall design of materials. However, in my experience, this becomes secondary, as zillions of resources are available online, in any field imaginable. What adds to the experience and learning of the students is nothing more than interaction, especially between students and instructors, and also between students. No one has mentioned the "Community of inquiry" framework (Garrison, Archer and Anderson), which stresses the role of the three "presences": social, teaching, and cognitive presence. Without these three components, most efforts at DE are destined to being only a collection of online materials on a web site. In fact, you can teach high quality courses without even having an LMS or a very sophisticated platform, such as MOOCS. Quality interactions are the core of e-learning and online distance education.

Giang Ngo - I agree with all of Curtis Bonk's motivational principles - these things are often neglected in the educational design of online learning which can so easily fall into the trap of the 'build it and they will come' approach. Thank you for sharing this new framework which I know I will find very useful.

Hi Irena White - I sometimes also employ his R2D2 model to explain online learning interaction and student learning style which is quite useful to have a look at. Very happy that you could find the discussion and materials shared here of some help to your work.

@Edgar, I agree - interactivity is a core element of online (and face2face) education. Teaching F2F you can start from scratch, no specific and well outlined content needed just the teacher's idea (vision) of the class of today. In online context we need content as much as interaction. Why would students interact if there's nothing interesting to share, and why would students share interesting content/ideas if there was no interaction? For a firmly based online course we need two legs to stand on.

Edgar put front of us an important aspect "Community of Inquiry". If we only teach, there is no added value to the exercise, students will get bored immediately since they themselves may look for the specific technical items transmitted, but if we educate, then we have the responsibility to interact both ways using all possible creative online ideas! (:-)))), sure if the instructor is prepared to do so, otherwise we go back to teaching!

I totally agree that we need to educate rather than deliver the material for empty vessels that will be filled with the knowledge!? we need to interact with those students - however, sometimes this might be a challenge - either the facilitator does not have the ability to engage with students - or accept their opinions regarding any of the issues, or the students are not keen to engage as engaging in a discussion in the class you need to be very well prepared ...

Regards

Theodora Issa

You may want to investigate "Quality Matters" for overall course design. They have a rubric from which you can design your course that would meet the latest research based best practices in online course design. Then you may want to look at the WCAG guidelines and also WCET group.

Hi I have been delivering online lecturers with students enrolled in my programme for a year now. When first started I dont like how the system was put organised and structure. I am still trying to get used the structure. Is there a better way online lecturers could be managed if so how?

The use of rubrics as one of the 'must-have/indispensable components of an online course' seems to generate quite a bit of discussion/controversy about the pros and cons of using this assessment approach amongst the teacher educators, educational designers and learning technologists with whom I work. I'd be very interested to hear the views of others.

Since there will no doubt be a component for collaborative learning, I have found that the clear guidelines and strategies for managing the collaboration itself could assist in minimizing complaints about some group members not pulling their weight.

Knowledge Forum, an online knowledge building environment has a suite of analytic tools to assess student progress. I have written a paper about one of my classes, and used the analytic tools to examine how they did:

Philip, D. N. (2012). Pilgrims' progress: The journey towards a knowledge building community in a university undergraduate class. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology (CJAT), 38(1). Available:

http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/571/337

This could serve to demonstrate some alternate assessment possibilities.

One of the tools that I found useful is Annotation tool. This helps me monitor the reading processes of my students. In addition, students can also comment on each others' annotation. I've written a paper on this which has been published in 3L journal: Southeast Asia Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Literature. Details of the paper:

Nor Fariza Mohd Nor; Hazita Azman; Afendi Hamat

Investigating students' use of online annotation tool in an online reading environment. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature. 2013;19(3):87-101.

@ Nor Fariza: I have just read through your article which is quite interesting regarding annotation/Annotation tools. Recently, a colleague of mine has been looking for a software to work with e-documents (PDFs) that can do the following tasks:

- annotate and save searchable notes

- save and export citations

She has known the Foxit Reader and I also told her the pdfescape.com, yet it seems unstatisfactory enough.

If you happen to know the software, please share with us. Many thanks.

@Giang Ngo:

The annotation software that I use for assignments is Jing (http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html) which is free. This creates some small movies of your comments which are then hosted by Jing. Students will be provided with only the link. This really helps to provide good feedback to students on assignments.

Quality Matters (https://www.qualitymatters.org/higher-education-program) is the program that is developed exclusively to maintain the standards for on line and blended courses. It provides a rubric (https://www.qualitymatters.org/rubric) to align the course material into various categories such as Course Overview and Introduction, Learning Objectives (Competencies), Assessment and Measurement, Instructional Materials, Learner Interaction and Engagement, Course Technology, Learner Support, and Accessibility. By following the rubric aligning your course contents with them, it is possible to develop online courses that are successful. It also has an arrangement for peer review of the online courses.

As an online professor, the "water cooler" on blackboard is good (if the students use it) to allow students to ask generic course questions and all students in the course can benefit from the question and response. I also have "weekly updates" on the discussion board that will have my schedule so if students have questions and they are not getting a timely response they can check to see my availability. Some student check it while others don't.

There are five e-learning components that are essential for all successful online courses: audience, course structure, page design, content engagement, usability.

I agree with you, Rolando, but I would add human touch. Whether the learning is effective or rewarding, the human factor is still critical.

We are in the process of initiating e-learning initiatives at our institution. I appreciate all the tips, papers, sites, and software suggestions made on this forum. Many thanks many educative remarks.

Here are some papers that might be of use to you:

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2003). Knowledge building environments: Extending the limits of the possible in education and knowledge work. In A. DiStefano, K.E. Rudestam, & R. Silverman (Eds.), Encyclopedia of distributed learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2006). Knowledge Building: Theory, Pedagogy, and Technology [Online]. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (pp. 97-118). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Available: http://ikit.org/fulltext/2006_KBTheory.pdf

I believe in motivation. My favourite is interest.

Learning as a game and competition with others.

Try my project - SQL Exercises: http://sql-ex.com is based on this idea.

I believe the foregoing discussion is very good in global quality.I wish to add that if attention is given to how much a learner can assimilate in a given slot of interaction on line ,then we need to consider that the content should be fragment as much as possible without lossing the context and meaning. If the content is fragmented and sectionally evaluated during building a comlex concept it would help. Here,the stress is on previous knowledge and bits of addition.If a provision is there, to check if you already know, one can skip a lot, thus avoiding getting bore,sleepy,indifferent to the on-line material.

I mean buildup the concepts slowly and integrate the concept after each concept and assess assured learning,if convinced the learner can proceed , otherwise recede to pickup the lost link.

In any learning ability to apply the learned content to new situations remains the core component, thus it need to be ensured by the design of the module.

If the parallel assessment is digital ,it adds to reinforcement of the learner.Shortcuts should be introduced for fast learners with toughter testing,for the inbuilt fast track learner.

We as teachers always believed that the speed of teaching is determined by the slowest student in the class;(to be idealistic) but on line-teaching learning caters to the full spectrum of the learning pie.

The design of an online course should cosider the following steps:

1 - Selection of technology options

2 - design and content development

3 - Technological implementation

4 - Course administration

It is important to define content that meets the objectives of the course; also need to define the profile of the participants. Another key element is learning units or modules of the course.

In the course have to build a monitoring process of learning, assessment tools, assignments, discussion forum and provide reference or further reading.

A sound pedagogical reason for being online! A big issue i find is that we concentrate so much on getting the specifications in place (the what we need to do bits) that we can overlook the 'why bits'. so for example our goals focus on being able to explore and critique complex educational issues than a discussion forum element that could facilitate this would seem to make sense.

Kathy, the 'why bits' seem to get lost in brick and mortar education at times as well! I appreciate that reminder.

Greetings all,

I think online instructors need to make use of the affordances of the technologies they have at hand. Among other things, this may mean that you have a constant aide-memoire for names, so use them frequently to convey that you care about each student. It also means that you are likely to have a record of things the students have said (in discussion forums, email, blogs, wikis) and that you can therefore respond to their individual interests and ideas BEYOND those mentioned in a specific question.

I think a big key to success in teaching on or off line is to break up the time so that people stay alert and interested. So, if you are working with Elluminate Live! or Adobe Connect or other classroom simulation software, plan several discussion questions or case analyses or whatever way you have for getting students involved in discussions with one another. Keep them to 15 or 20 minute sessions with reporting back (have them assign a reporter for each group) to the whole class at the end. Inject your own PowerPoint presentations (or whatever) between these sessions.

I agree with the earlier value of recorded lectures, but (in keeping with the above), if they are longer than 15 minutes, I would suggest making those recordings available outside of class time (along the lines of the "flipped classroom"-- see, e.g., http://wikis.apa.uoit.ca/wikis/EDUC5001-SEP10/index.php/Flipped_Classroom .

I think it is important to have the students engaged in academic writing--even if that writing is in a blog or wiki or a discussion forum. So, in at least one of their communication fora, I think they should be encouraged to include citations, links to online resources, quotations from their colleague's writing or other forms of substatiation and documentation. This forum should also have an expectation of formality with attention to quality of writing and writing mechanics. In my experience, these things rapidly become community expectations that the students enforce.

I could go on and on, but this is not the right forum. I have collected some related links at https://delicious.com/#ilprofessori/search/online .

With the onslaught of mobile technologies,the challanges for the curriculum designer have enhanced.The next bit is the instructional designer to pull these forceful tools to generate more creative learning locations.

I see around majority of youth leaning on their mobiles.Just anywhere. They are definitely leaning on more satisfying interactions.Sit with some, and soon you will appreciate they are lurking to be occupied.

Do you have the rewarding content to be engaging and adding to their credit digitally if refected adequately, any where,any time?

The whole burden of structuring constructively and assessing digitally simulteneously lies on the creative potential of the course instructor.

Are there takers?

Thanks, Ashok, your respnse reminded me of at least one (otherr) taker: Clayton Wright wrote a brief but fairly comprehensive piece on developing and reviewing online courses for the Online Newsletter: http://newsletter.alt.ac.uk/2011/11/developing-and-reviewing-online-courses-items-for-consideration/

A piece that I add to the online environment on the discussion board is "Weekly Updates" which serves as virtual office hours. It lets students know my availability since the online environment is pretty much 24/7. It is intended to reduce the students stress when they do not get an "immediate" response. If they review the schedule they will have an idea of when to expect a response within reason.

As an aside, the students typically do not read the weekly updates but I do keep it updated almost daily.

Most of the problems with the online courses is that the teachers prepare considering it all possible types of problems that will be faced by the students. But the biggest problem is that students rarely go through all the required material that is presented for them. That is the tragedy. It will take some more time for the students to fully appreciate all aspects that has been made available by the instructor.

Thanks Igor. Is that elearnmag.acm.org?

Kindly consider the following comments

1. All videos should have subtitles.

2.Can  use more animation where ever possible

3. If a signing video is also available, it will be helpful for deaf learners as the resources for their higher studies is very limited.

The above suggestions are based on my experience with deaf learners.Though many online courses are available, they are not well suited for them.

In short, the online courses should be more disabled friendly.

Dear Raji, I have never think of this issue . Thank you !

Thank you all. This is a very informative discussion. I am teaching blended mode courses where we have online classes with face-to-face tutorials. There are syn and async discussions which I found very useful for our students who are at a distance. My institution also follow the points Michael has mentioned. We are unable to include audios and videos due to low internet connectivity, however, in the future we hope to do that.

The web site www.geteducated.com provides an abundance of information and resources relative to online education.  Check it out.  (I'm not affiliated with this site in any way.)

There is a free subscription to a program that allows for team collaboration that looks promising for online courses. Students can brainstorm and write notes on a "private canvas" and then share them when ready on a "team canvas." Web pages, audio, and video can be included. www.teamput.com.

Thank you John and William for sharing.

An insightful discussion.

Not using the approach yet but learning from you.

www.studyblue.com is also an interesting site for sharing notes or studying vocabulary or anything that needs to be memorized like technical terms. Teachers can see what their students have done.

Generally, remember to balance the amount of multimedia in your online materials to allow students to focus on the learning activities and not be distracted by the "bells and whistles." Also maintain a social presence to keep students engaged, especially those who come from a British system of education that is traditionally teacher-centred as opposed to the student-centredness required in online learning. Here are resource links, including one of my short articles, which elaborate more on these points:

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/learning-styles/how-much-multimedia-should-you-add-to-powerpoint-for-online-students/

http://www.facultyfocus.com/tag/engaging-online-students/

Teacher presence is a critical part of online, esp. asynchronous online courses. Respond to student discussions, reply to individual students, send emails regularly, post announcements/notifications on course site regularly, require students to meet with you a few times during the term, provide individualized feedback on student work, etc.

Another one, for me, is design/navigation of course materials. I organize folders and files with telling titles and by using logical and priority orders. I use visual elements to indicate organization importance. I use consistency to make things predictable and disrupt it to draw attention. And I use a minimalist design approach and stick to it.

Just one more-- Get students to know each other and to support each other. Create an introduction activity and give them credit for the informal interaction there, and that sets the tone. Also give credit/bonus rewards for students who show help for others, as well as using pairs/groups and requiring students to work with each other. Community is what students lack in online courses (if we don't try to recreate it), so I do a few things to create a sense of community with me and among students.

Nice Dear Debra Sharon Ferdinand-James

When we face this task for the first time, many questions often arise: where to start? What kind of activities can i do? What type of content should I include? How do we evaluate Some considerations to take into account are: 1) Design from the competitions; 2) Wealth of methodologies and techniques; 3) Planning of times; 4) Individual and collaborative work; 5) Clear instructions and 6) Personalized monitoring.