Essentials of Online Teaching

A Standards-Based Guide

Margaret Foley McCabe,Patricia González-Flores

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317416531
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Didattica inclusiva

Teachers' active online participation and engagement with students are critical factors to the success of online courses. Essentials of Online Teaching is a standards-based, straightforward guide to teaching online in higher education, high school and vocational training, or corporate learning environments. This brief but powerful book encourages immediate application of concepts with the help of real-world examples, technical insights, and professional advice.

The guide includes:

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• a practical approach informed by, but not about, relevant learning theories;

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• clear models and examples from a wide variety of online courses;

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• teachers' reflections about their online practice;

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• a checklist of standards to help guide teaching decisions; and

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• an accompanying website (www.essentialsofonlineteaching.com) with additional resources.

Essentials of Online Teaching addresses key instructional challenges in online teaching and presents the reader with practical solutions for each phase of a course—preparation, beginning, middle, and end.

Chapter 1 Orientation to Online Teaching

What’s the first image that comes to mind when you hear the term “online course?” If you ask 10 people this question, you may get 10 different answers. To some, the term describes a self-paced online tutorial. Others think of a collaborative experience in which teachers and students interact online over a semester. Still others will describe courses in which 100,000 people engage with free learning resources online. There are so many different models and variations of online courses that it can be difficult to have a meaningful discussion about best practices within this growing industry. But that’s just what we intend to do.

This book is designed to help teachers teach effectively online. So we begin by defining the terrain to help us establish a shared context. A brief overview of the evolution of online education is provided to situate our discussion. We then describe some of the basic features of online learning environments and draw distinctions among different models of online courses commonly offered today. Finally, we look at the variety of roles an online teacher fulfills to support students’ learning and present an example of a teacher’s online routine.

Online education is evolving at a mind-boggling pace. As we seek to take advantage of new technologies to reach students, it is important that we keep in mind what generations of research and practice have taught us about learning. After all, technology simply provides a means to transfer ideas, but learning is still a very human activity. The principles of sound educational practice continue to be as relevant online as anywhere.

The suggestions and standards offered throughout this guide are based on three assumptions:

1. Teaching is important to the learning process.

2. Online education is a viable context for learning.

3. Effective online teaching requires sound pedagogy and knowledge about the online environment.

We encourage teachers to find ways to actively engage with their students online and make informed instructional decisions as they do.

1.1 Evolution of Online Education

For more than a century, distance educators have created alternative formats to offer education based on the principle that media can be used to perform some of the teaching functions. For example, in early correspondence courses, content was presented through printed materials developed to enable a “guided didactic conversation” (Holmberg, 1989). Tutors—who communicated with students through the telephone or correspondence—offered individualized support, answered students’ questions, and graded students’ assignments. Instruction relied on carefully designed materials, while teachers advised and graded.

Online learning stems from the same principle and represents a new generation of distance education (Moore & Kearsley, 2005). In the course design phase, content delivery and learning activities are carefully planned, and multimedia resources are produced. A syllabus is strategically crafted and provides detailed instructions. When the course is taught, teachers support students as they work through the activities. Direct instruction from teachers may be required, but less intensely than in on-site courses. Assessing students’ progress and offering feedback continue to be important in order to help students master the learning outcomes.

For students, the experience can be disjointed. They are responsible for making sense of the pieces. Here is where the teacher’s intervention becomes critical. Independent learners might be able to achieve the learning outcomes by themselves, but many others will need the help of an expert who knows the content and understands the course structure, progression, and potential trouble spots.

Institutions of higher education began offering courses online in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as computer networks became available. Early efforts used text-based computer conferencing to connect teachers and learners. Faster connectivity and new technologies allowed for better graphical interfaces and wider communication options for teaching and learning. The global expansion of the Internet over the past 20 years has helped online learning become an emerging frontier of education. The sheer number of online students today (estimated at 7.1 million just in the United States in 2013) is evidence of the excitement and promise of this educational platform (Allen & Seaman, 2013).

Online learning is an important alternative for the growth of an educational institution. It can serve students unable to participate in traditional programs, and it reduces the pressure on physical facilities. The Internet provides global access to resources. Communication networks and tools enable evermore sophisticated ways to share information. Students can put together their own educational paths by selecting online offerings that address their personal interests and needs.

1.2 A Spectrum of Online Course Models

An online course, according to the Babson Survey Research Group, is a course in which “80% or more of the content is delivered through digital devices and networks” (Allen & Seaman, 2016). This means that the teaching and learning in an online course happens mainly through the Internet. This is a useful definition that distinguishes online courses from those that use the technology to augment classroom learning. Table 1.1 presents different content delivery modes popular in courses today.

Table 1.1 Types of Courses by Delivery Mode

Type of Course	Percentage of Content Delivered Online	Description
Traditional or face-to-face	0%	Content is delivered on-site in oral or printed format.
Web-facilitated or technology-enhanced	1–29%	Web-based technologies are used to support a face-to-face course.
Blended/hybrid	30–79%	Online and face-to-face instruction are combined, so that the number of onsite sessions are reduced.
Online	80% or more	All or most of the content is delivered through digital devices and networks.

Source: Adapted from Allen & Seaman (2016)

If you are interested in finding effective ways of weaving online and on-site learning, refer to Essentials for Blended Learning: A Standards-Bases Guide (Stein & Graham, 2014).

A competency is the capacity to perform tasks or face situations successfully in a specific context, applying knowledge, skills, and attitudes in an integrated and interrelated way (Zabala & Arnau, 2010).

The “80% rule” does little to clarify the practical definition of an online course. What does it mean to take an online course? Participating in an online course can mean anything, from watching a series of video lectures to completing a semester’s workload for an accredited online course. The vagueness of terminology adds confusion and lessens credibility for more intensive online courses.

There is a wide variety of online courses that differ in their instructional orientation, format, and methods. Some common models include online seminars/workshops, competency-based programs, webinars/webcasts and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Table 1.2 summarizes basic characteristics of each of these models. These categories are intended to be descriptive rather than definitive of any particular model and illustrate popular online practices. Many...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Introduction to This Guide
• 1. Orientation to Online Teaching
• 2. Factors That Influence Online Teaching
• 3. Teaching with Digital Tools and Resources
• 4. Preparing to Teach Online
• 5. The Beginning Weeks: Launching an Online Course
• 6. The Middle Weeks: Facilitating Online Learning
• 7. The Ending Weeks: Synthesizing and Extending Learning
• 8. Online Collaboration
• 9. Online Assessment
• 10. Pulling It All Together: An Online Teacher in Action
• Appendix A: Using the Standards Checklist
• Index