Online Course Delivery and Instruction

Understanding the Instructor’s Role in Facilitating Online Discussions

In my classroom-based courses I have always valued discussion as a powerful learning tool that provides students with opportunities to explain their reasoning and understanding, learn different perspectives and points of view, and re-think and possibly revise their own conceptions based on careful reflection of potentially disparate viewpoints. As I prepared to teach my first online course five years ago, it was only natural that discussion would be a part of it.

Michelle Everson PhD. October 19, 2009

Reaching Online Students with Learning Disabilities

Students with disabilities are drawn to online courses for many of the same reasons as everyone else, but it’s often the anonymity that makes learning

Mary Bart September 30, 2009

11 Tips for Setting the Tone in Your Online Course

The cliché that you only get one chance to make a first impression is especially true when you teach online. Each item you post—email, discussion message, announcement, etc.—must be created with much thought, and none is more important than the first post to your class.

Errol Craig Sull August 27, 2009

Tips for Establishing a Rapport with Online Students

“There is no personal interaction between student and teacher…the spontaneity of teaching is lost…the only rapport exists in exchanging bits and bytes of info.”

Perhaps you’ve heard someone make this objection to online learning? Or even uttered it yourself?

My answer to this is very simple: hogwash.

Errol Craig Sull July 9, 2009

Creating an Online Presence for Your Online Students

No one doubts the assertion that online students are more likely to be successful if they feel connected to their instructor and fellow students, but

Rob Kelly July 1, 2009

Addressing the Unique Needs of Your Students

Why are you interested in improving your courses and instruction?

That was the question posed to attendees to kick off the online seminar Five Steps to Improve Your Online Courses and Instruction by presenter Dr. Patti Shank. Most of the respondents selected as their answers “to better support students” or “I hope this will reduce some of the hassles of teaching online.” A few of the more honest ones chose “I’m expected to do this” and a couple more came because they “need to address specific problems.”

Mary Bart June 15, 2009

Establishing Online Instructor Performance Best Practices and Expectations

Helping faculty learn to survive and even thrive online is critical if we are to realize the potential of this new learning space. During a

Lawrence Ragan PhD. June 12, 2009

Nine Strategies for Using IM in Your Online Course

Instant messaging can be an effective online learning tool that can build community and foster collaborative learning. The following are some suggestions from Debby Kilburn, computer science professor at Cero Coso Community College, for making the most of this tool.

Rob Kelly February 18, 2009

Four Tips for Better Online Instruction

In course evaluations, 90 percent of the students in John Thompson’s graduate-level education courses at the University of San Diego indicated that the online learning experience was as good as or better than the traditional classroom and 91 percent would take another online course.

Rob Kelly February 17, 2009

Five Tips for Respecting Diversity in Asynchronous Discussion Forums

In asynchronous discussion forums, participants usually come from diverse backgrounds, including gender and culture, and the textual cues they post online are usually reflections of their own diversity. How you handle equity and diversity issues can be a key to online course retention.

Marianne Castano Bishop December 9, 2008

Online Course Delivery and Instruction

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