Undergraduate online learning: Mechanisms for Course Design and Delivery!

The study was conducted to explore and identify best practices used by full-time and part-time faculty in adult-centered online learning environments. Using a modified version of the instrument made available by the Teaching, Learning and Technology (TILT) Group (2005), faculty were surveyed and asked to identify and describe teaching practices implemented in their online courses that paralleled those described by Checkering and Ermanno (l996) in the Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education for online environments. In addition, researchers verified the usefulness of these practices with students by comparing them with comments on student evaluations. Results revealed three themes within best practices for online instruction: course design, instructional effectiveness, and interactivity or interconnected. Using these three themes, best practices in course design and delivery are proposed to improve opportunities for student-instructor interaction, teaching strategies that encourage retention and behaviors that influence learning and course satisfaction. This study has implications for planning faculty development activities which assists faculty in integrating best practices and effective teaching principles for online learning into undergraduate adult education.

An increasing number of higher education adult programs are offering web-based courses, certificates and degrees to provide access and convenience to their students and to reach future markets (Berg, 1999; Volumed, 1997). The significant increase in the number of adults in online courses (National Center for Education Statistics [NC ES], 2005; Sloan Consortium, 2005) and programs, credit and non-credit, requires a closer look at how effective teaching can maximize the value and benefits of distance learning for students and institutions. Adult programs in higher education will continue to face internal and external pressures to provide and expand distance-learning options while maintaining academic integrity and quality of instruction, raising critical issues of accountability for today’s institutions, faculty and students.

The shift from traditional face-to-face to online learning environments encourages a closer look at the quality of instruction and instructional design. The instructional practices of faculty, course design and the opportunities for faculty-student interactions within the online environment can be predictors of student learning and satisfaction. The increasing use of part-time faculty to teach online courses prompts the need to include this cadre of faculty in formal processes to develop web-based teaching skills (NC ES, 2005; Sloan Consortium, 2005).

Despite the proliferation of online courses and programs, there are few studies on what constitutes effective teaching and learning in the online learning environment (Newline & Wang, 2002). A common mistake online course developers or instructors make is trying to emulate the traditional classroom with technology mediated interactions without the benefit of good pedagogy. Wilkes and Burn ham (1991) reported that good online teaching practices are fundamentally identical to good traditional teaching practices and that factors that influence good instruction may be generally universal across different environments and populations. However, moving a course online requires new ways of thinking about teaching and learning (Bates, 2000).

This study examined the “Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education”, as modified by Checkering and Ermanno (1996), with respect to their effectiveness and applicability to online courses for adult learners. The purpose of the study was to investigate best practices in design, implementation and assessment of online instruction for adult learners, and to identify practices that capitalize on the potential of web-based instruction and promote positive learning experiences.

The teaching and learning mission of adult and continuing education will be significantly impacted as competition for students, declining resources, increasing online enrollments, and changing faculty demographics continue. Unless faculty are provided opportunities to recognize and implement best teaching practices in online teaching environments, educational imperatives, such as students learning, retention and outcome assessments will be compromised. In setting benchmarks for best practices, guidelines for effective teaching across disciplines in online environments could be established as well as a competency-based faculty development program that would ensure the implementation of these principles. Adult learning and constructivist learning theories, as applied to web-based education, provide the framework for benchmarking these practices (Berg, 1999; Dias & Bendable, 2001; Huang, 2002).

Online undergraduate courses were first offered in March 2003, in response to a feasibility study undertaken by a school of adult and continuing education at an urban private Midwestern four year institution, which identified advantages and recommended online learning formats for adult learners. The online courses were selected, designed and delivered, according to specific guidelines, to enhance learning experiences, expand access, and provide options for educational opportunities for adult learners, while sustaining learning outcomes consistent with those in similar face-to-face courses. No traditional undergraduate program at this university advocates or offers online courses.

Faculty who volunteered to teach online were provided a modicum of training in course design and delivery and were paid a modest stipend for course development. The first four courses offered online in 2003 were in the general studies core curriculum and were taught primarily by part-time faculty concurrently teaching the same course face-to-face. This cadre of online faculty grew from 4 ( 3 part-time and I full time) in 2003 to 19 ( 17 part-time to 2 full time) and the number of online course offerings grew from 4 to 26 in academic year 2006-2007, with part-time faculty teaching 92% of the online course offerings. All faculty who taught online during that time frame were provided the same training as the initial group, were similarly compensated for course development and retained intellectual property and copyright privileges.

Participants
This study utilized 12 returned questionnaires distributed to the 14 faculty teaching online in the school for adult and continuing education at the university at that time. Ten participants were part-time faculty while two were full-time. This sample of online faculty participants closely reflects the ratio of part-time to full time faculty (98 to 7) in the school teaching on ground. Most of the faculty responding to the survey had taught an average of four years online. The range of time for respondents teaching online varied from one to four years. All of the respondents had taught the face-to-face version of the online course about which they were queried. Of the faculty surveyed, over 73% had the terminal degree in the discipline in which they taught. Half of the faculty in the study were female. Disciplines represented included biology, theology, philosophy, psychology, history, mathematics and political science. All online courses are taught in an accelerated 9-week format. Approximately 500 students in this adult and continuing education program enroll in online courses each year, and 95% of those courses are in the general studies core curriculum. Sixty-three percent of the adult learners are female and 31% of these students African American. The average online student is 35 years old, works full time and earns a yearly income of about $36,000.

Responses were evaluated from 150 students enrolled in the online courses of interest during the study. Archival data from 150 end of course evaluations were collected and recorded for student responses on open ended questions about their learning experience.

Measure and Analysis
Using the survey instrument, personal interviews and focus groups, this study was conducted to investigate different aspects of the design and delivery of courses for teaching adult learners in the online environment. Qualitative data, collected from faculty survey responses, and individual, and focus group interviews, were analyzed for emerging themes and common patterns for teaching, learning and student engagement.

An eight-item survey was developed based on Checkering and Ermanno’s (1996), “Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever”, article and adapted from a survey by the TILT Group (2005) integrating the seven principles with the use of technology. Survey questions were open-ended to allow for more descriptive responses and were minimally modified to include phrasing that related more appropriately to online courses. The first seven items of the survey referenced each of the original Checkering and Jameson’s seven principles; the eighth item provided faculty with an opportunity to recommend an additional best practice based on their online teaching experience. Surveys were electronically distributed to online teaching faculty with instructions for completion and submission. In addition, participating faculty received a follow-up email reminder and telephone call requesting prompt submission of the completed survey. In this study, 14 online faculty, 12 part-time and two full-time, received the eight item survey to complete and submit electronically. A total of 12 completed surveys were returned. Faculty were asked to interpret each principle in terms of examples and practices implemented in online courses. Survey items were written as follows:
Item 1. Checkering and Jameson (1987) wrote that, according to decades of educational research, “Frequent student-staff contact in and out of classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement...” How do you utilize technology to encourage communication between yourself and your students?
Item 2. “Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race,” wrote Checkering and Jameson (1987). How have you promoted cooperation among students both during and outside of the classroom setting?
Item 3. “Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pure-packaged assignments and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives” (Checkering & Jameson 1987). How does your teaching style directly or indirectly foster active learning?
Item 4. It is important to offer feedback about students’ abilities and performance, at the start of a program, as it goes on, and as it is ending. This feedback includes but isn't limited to assessment (e.g., laboratory experiments or simulations that immediately show students whether experiments have succeeded). How have you offered feedback in this manner for your online students?
Item 5. “Time plus energy equals learning,” wrote Checkering and Jameson (1987). Technology can play a role here in attracting students to spend more time in their studies, reducing wasted time (e.g., commuting time, standing in lines, waiting for books), and in helping communicate to students how much time and energy you expect them to invest in their work. How has the format of your courses increased the time students spend working productively?
Item 6. “High expectations are important for everyone -- for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert themselves, and for the bright and well motivated” (Checkering & Jameson, 1987). Expectations are communicated not only by what students hear you say but also by the nature of assignments. How are your expectations communicated by what students hear you say and by the nature of your assignments?
Item 7. Students are different from one another. In different ways, each of them needs “the opportunity to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them” (Checkering & Jameson, 1987). Then they can be pushed to learning in new ways that do not come so easily. Can you describe one or two activities that, directly or indirectly, help all students learn despite their differences and/or in ways that take advantage of their differences?

Item 8. Are there other ways of using technology to improve learning that you would like to share and that you have not yet mentioned? In addition, if you had the opportunity to create a principle that you believe would benefit the online classroom environment, what would it be?

Personal interviews with all faculty respondents and two focus group sessions were conducted to cross –validate what was learned from survey responses. Interview questions were open-ended and less specific than survey questions to gather faculty experiences. In follow-up focus groups more probing questions were asked and responses recorded. Data sets from the interviews and focus groups were used to explain emerging themes and relationships between categories of teaching strategies and best practices.

All faculty responses were collectively analyzed for similarities, common patterns, and emerging themes in accordance with the grounded theory analysis method introduced by Glaser and Strauss (1967). In order to verify that faculty best practices were viewed by students as effective, student end of course evaluations were examined for congruence with those practices.

Students’ responses to seven open-ended questions on the end of course evaluation that corresponded with survey items given to faculty for best practices were recorded and analyzed. Open-ended questions queried students about: (a) satisfaction with the way the instructor handled the course, (b) how the instructor could improve the course, (c) how the instructor encouraged student participation and interaction in the classroom, (d) if course objectives were met, (e) if the student contacted the instructor outside of class and a description of the experience, and (f) if there were any additional comments.

Interpretation of the survey, as well as interview and focus group, responses and student evaluations revealed three distinct themes in relation to the best practices identified: course design, instructional effectiveness and connectivity. Even though there is some crossover among principles, practices that best support the need for effective course design include those under Principle 2, encouraging cooperation among students, Principle 5, increasing time on task and Principle 8, incorporating pedagogically sound practices. Support for instructional effectiveness come from practices in Principle 1, encouraging staff-student contact, Principle 6, communicating high expectations and Principle 7, respecting diverse talents and ways of learning. Within the third theme, practices in Principle 3, encouraging active learning, and Principle 4, giving prompt feedback, support interconnectivity or interactivity. Erhmann (2005) reported similar results about teaching strategies and activities across faculty, institutions and disciplines for each of the seven principles of good undergraduate education. In this study, researchers identified best practices in undergraduate adult education in online learning environments and determined which practices promoted most desirable educational goals and outcomes for adult learners. This study also provides basic information and insights into teaching adult undergraduates online which can be used by college administrators to plan and implement faculty development programs to meet the needs of online faculty and the institution in maintaining high standards of instructional quality and organizational integrity. The results herein are consistent with adult learning and constructivist theories and what we know about distance learners (Charp, 2000; Knowles, l984; Kuh & Cracraft, l986; Truman-Davis, Futch, Thompson, & Yonekura, 2000).

With regard to best practices in teaching adults in the online environment, the traditional practices associated with the seven principles of good undergraduate education, were adaptable, as reported, for online instruction and support the three themes, content design, instructional effectiveness and interactivity/interconnectivity that surfaced in the content analysis ofaculty responses. These themes serve as a pathway to bridge face-to-face and online learning practices. In addition, best practices were verified for their efficacy from student comments collected and reported on end-of-course evaluations. With regard to best practices derived from the seven principles, it can be concluded from the respondent’s comments that:

Principle 1. Encouraging staff-student contact
Principle one included practices that created an environment for interaction and communication. Most faculty used e-mail and discussion to create an online community where students felt welcomed, comfortable and safe and where student progress could be monitored and evaluated. Stein and Glazer (2003) recommended that interactivity between student and instructor is fundamental to building community in the online environment. Dialogue and discussion in a constructivist atmosphere promotes expanded learning and fosters critical thinking relevant to adult learners’ everyday life experiences. This was confirmed in the works of Truman-Davis et al. (2000) and Saba (2000) who recommended that virtual learning models should be learner-centered and dialogue based. The results may indicate that faculty, cognizant of the “distance”, creates communication bridges to extend their roles as facilitators and mentors, and maintain a “visible” social and teaching presence. Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, and Archer (2001) recommended that online instructors be “seen” and establish a presence in the online environment to solidify connectivity with students.

The majority of student responses confirmed that online courses provided immediate feedback from a professor who was present, available and organized. Students commented that online courses allow for more student-faculty interaction. E-mail and forum discussions were sited as best ways to connect to the instructor and other students, as well as to get information and feedback about course assignments.

Principle 2. Encouraging cooperation among students
Principle two included practices that provided opportunities for peer review for various assignments and in discussion postings. The peer review process was often used in conjunction with team projects where students were encouraged to share experiences and sources of information. This was in accord with Gibbons and Wentworth (2001) who stated that adult learners have a life-centered orientation to learning that is relevant and application-based. It can be concluded that as more adult students bring life experiences into the online environment, faculty should incorporate authentic experiences that are applicable to real world situations.

Students commented on increased freedom of expression with classmates and the instructor. Some students also noted that the discussions were valuable in understanding other perspectives and allowed for additional time to process information. Students who participated in peer review of writing assignments mentioned improved writing skills as a result of these activities and more confidence in their own abilities to provide feedback and support to other students.

Principle 3. Encouraging active learning
Principle three was emphasized by the predominant use of assignments that encouraged reflection and required students to relate course content material to their personal lives. This indicates that faculty recognize the need for variety when assigning learning activities to motivate student interest and encourage control over their own learning environment. These results are in concert with the theories of constructivism and engagement that allow students to choose assignments that are relevant, interesting and useful for them (Kearsley & Schneiderman, l999). It can be concluded that online environments are advantageous for providing opportunities for students to search beyond course content and construct their own knowledge.

Students reported that online course completion resulted in improved critical thinking skills which enhanced writing ability. Many responded that the course taken was interesting and user-friendly. Furthermore, many students revealed that they were more self-directed and self-motivated than they thought they were.

Principle 4. Giving prompt feedback
Principle four included the practice of setting a time and schedule for feedback on discussions and other assignments, including tests and papers. This indicates that with a plan for providing timely feedback, faculty time constraints throughout the term would not disrupt and compromise the flow of acknowledgment and information. This is consistent with the recommendations of Graham et al. (2001) who found that while instructors have good intentions for providing feedback in the beginning of a course; they often become lax in responding as the semester becomes busier. Faculty who reported that they provided personalized feedback did so to commend exemplary performance or to offer suggestions for improvement.

It is concluded also that feedback plays as important role in student retention in relaying different types of information needed by students to remain involved and connected in the online environment. Students reported that they interacted more often with the instructor in an online course than a face-to-face course. Students also commented on the increased interaction and personalized support received from other students as well as the instructor.

Principle 5. Increasing time on task
Principle five was primarily achieved with repeated postings of timelines and deadlines for assignments. The nature of the online environment is double edged for the adult learner. On one hand the environment is conducive to procrastination because students have the flexibility and freedom to learn in their own time and space. On the other hand this flexibility allows students to access the learning environment when they are ready and mentally present to do so. Regular posting of due dates, use of a reminder calendar and scheduled tests help the adult learner keep on task. This confirms the work of early adult learning theorists who reported that busy adults want more direction and less ambiguity in the learning process (Knowles, 1984) and that their readiness to learn is a significant factor influencing academic achievement (Gibbons & Wentworth, 2001). It can be concluded then, that providing students with the opportunity of taking practice tests, as well as redoing tests and papers, and organizing study groups increases time on task with the content material. Student responses verified that online courses require more self-discipline and helped improve time–management skills.

Principle 6. Communicating high expectations
Principle six was achieved most often by faculty through their course syllabus. Inclusion of course learning objectives and specific rubrics for course assignments and participation clarified expectations for academic success in the course. This is confirmed in Newlin and Wang (2002) who stated that instructors should clearly communicate expectations through course goals and objectives and specify how they can be attained. It can be concluded that clarification of expectations in another opportunity for faculty to model expected behaviors, highlight and comment on exemplary student performance and provide detailed feedback for student improvement. Students responded that online courses are more rigorous when compared to face-to-face courses. Students also reported more focus placed on participation requirements and attendance expectations than in face to face courses.

Principle 7. Respecting diverse talents and ways of learning
Principle seven was promoted by most faculty in practices that incorporated various ways to present course material, design assignments and format assessment within an “open atmosphere” for learning. This indicates a genuine regard for the different learning styles of adult students and the “democratization” of the online learning environment. Confirmed by Diaz and Cartnal (l999) an awareness of different learning styles aids in the instructional design and ultimately the retention of students in online courses. It is also concluded that exposure to different learning styles, points of view and perspectives increases student versatility and ability to adapt to real world situations.

Students responded that the online environment allowed more time to process, reflect, and respond. Many students reported increased self-confidence when participating in class discussions and appreciated the anonymous environment. Students also commented that online courses had more variety. Learning was extended through online resources, web-based activities and other content expanding sources.

Principle 8. Personal Best Practice
Principle eight included practices that augmented those presented in the initial seven principles. For an overwhelming majority of faculty in this study the practice of good pedagogy was the most important aspect of designing teaching experiences and facilitating adult learning in online environments. This indicates that the use of technology is secondary to the value of good pedagogy for course design and instructional effectiveness in distance learning (Christie & Ferdos, 2004; Covington, Petherbridge, & Warren, 2005; Erhmann, 1997; Kozma, 2004). It can be concluded that the environment most conducive to online learning is one that balances the interactions between the human players and the technology medium.

The results of this study will benchmark future online course planning and have practical implications in faculty development and policy implementation. The common themes that emerged in this study serve as pathways for the mechanisms of best practices in moving faculty from the traditional to the online teaching environment.

As the demand for online learning increases, so will the demand for qualified instructors. Transitioning from teaching in the traditional classroom to the online environment is not a simple task for most faculty, particularly veteran faculty who have taught in the traditional mode for eons. It can be a threatening experience as well as one that goes unrecognized and unrewarded. Unless tenure and promotion guidelines recognize and reward the efforts and effectiveness of online teaching, most online courses will be taught by part-time faculty.

The contextually informed design of this study allows for more thoughtful interpretations of familiar undergraduate best teaching practices for transition to the online environment using a constructivist approach. The interdisciplinary commitment to best practices identified in this study enhances the interpretability of effective teaching and thereby transforms new information from one environment to another. Benchmarking best practices for online education will strengthen processes to achieve and maintain quality educational programs and sustain institutional accountability for teaching and learning outcomes.

Institutions that make a conscious decision to assist faculty in the transition process and provide opportunities to discover mechanisms for optimizing best practices for teaching online will compete more favorably for adult students than those that do not. The results of the study may also provide schools with a foundation upon which to build faculty development programs that meet the needs of all online instructors and simultaneously match institutional goals to maintain high standards for online instruction. Part-time faculty must continue to be included in development activities and encouraged to lead programs to develop and mentor other faculty.

How to Create our Own Online Course: 100 Tools, Guides, and Resources

Perhaps we have a special skill, talent, or knowledge-base that we want to share with others, and maybe we have heard that teaching online courses can make us a little extra money. The resources below will help us discover how to combine both what we have to offer and what we wish to gain by guiding us through creating and establishing an online course. No matter what age of us, subject we want to teach, or size of the class, we will find resources and information to bring our class online.

Learning Management Systems

Learning Management Systems host our online class and provide a place for us to receive and turn in assignments, class communication, and more.

1. Model. This free and very popular course management system allows us to design a course for thousands or only a few of us and gives access to creating forums, wiki, databases, and much more.
2. Blackboard Learn . Blackboard is used by many institutes of higher learning, as well as other organizations, as a source of online classroom management.
3. Leninism. Taking advantage of the free trial to see how this application works for education, organizations, and businesses.
4. Nice net’s Internet Classroom Assistant. Setting up our course here and having access to conferencing, scheduling, document sharing, personal messaging, and link sharing.
5. Flex Training. This e-learning system offers a low-cost solution to providing online training and education. The home page also offers plenty of thinking-points for considering a learning management system.
6. Backpack. While not specifically a learning management system, this app is great for organizing groups and sharing information–and is available at no charge for the basic services.
7. OPEN Learning Management System. This open-source management system helps online teachers with course building as well as class management activities such as creating a syllabus, discussion forum, file up loader, a grade book, calendar, and more.
8. Manhattan. This free system is run on Linux and is currently being used at many colleges and universities for their online education programs.
9. Tutor. A Tutor is an open-source web-based management system that is easy for administrators to install and easy for instructors to utilize.
10. RN. RN was developed at MIT, is currently used in a wide range of educational settings, and is open-source.

Resources for Getting our Class Online

Reading these articles to find out everything from using a free blog to host our class to selecting and implementing a Learning Management System.

11. How to Teach an Online Course using Word Press. This article clearly outlines how we can use a free Word Press blog to create a simple online class.
12. How to Create Your Own Website to Support an On-line Course: tips, hints and practical information. If we want to design a website to support our online course, then checking out this article that gives technical step-by-step directions.
13. How to Set Up an Online Class Using Web CT 6. Finding out how to set up our class with this Blackboard application.
14. How to Write a Free Online Course to Promote Your Website. This article offers suggestions for creating an online course as a marketing tool.
15. How to Create a SCORN Compliant Quiz. Learning to make quizzes that work seamlessly in our online environment and effectively measure student progress.
16. Online classrooms for FREE?! A Review of Free Online Learning Management Systems (LAMS). This article takes a look at several different free learning management systems and offers suggestions for ease-of-use and other criteria.
17. White paper provides advice for implementing an LAMS. This article offers a synopsis of a white paper that offers suggestions to get your LAMS going with few problems and also includes where to access the white paper for free.
18. Learning Management Systems (LAMS). Find many resources to learn about the various LAMS available and help you choose the right one for our online course.
19. 7 Tips for Selecting a LAMS. These seven tips will put novice online course developers at ease when considering an LAMS.
20. LAMS 2.0: How to Select an Advanced Learning System. Reading this white paper to learn what to consider when selecting a system for your course.

Resources for Developing our Class

We may have plenty of great ideas for our class in our head, but we will need to translate those ideas into approachable tasks for the online environment. These resources will help us do that.

21. Excellence in Online Teaching and Learning. Click through these selections offering advice and information on what a good online class should provide and how to create an online learning environment.
22. SCORN Explained. Learn what SCORN is and why it may be important to our online learning environment.
23. How to Develop Your Online Course. This article offers a wealth of information and points of consideration when developing an effective online course.
24. Sloan-C Events. Many of the workshops listed here are perfect for learning how to set up our online course.
25. E-CLASS: Creating a Guide to Online Course Development For Distance Learning Faculty. Written by a professor, this article offers an in-depth look at how we can start a distance learning class or program within an institute of higher learning.
26. Develop Online Courses. This self-paced online course offers information that we may find helpful when first developing your online course.
27. Nine Tips for Creating a Hybrid Course. If we will have students in a combination of face-to-face and online classes, this article offers plenty of suggestions.
28. Planning online courses. While this class requires a fee to take, it teaches both new and experienced instructors how to get their course online.
29. Writing online courses. Paying to take this class that brings together the best in teaching methods and technology to help us learn how to write a quality online course.
30. Tips for Developing Media-rich Online Courses. From thinking about the learners’ perspective to providing regular feedback to content preparation, this article helps us create an engaging, media-rich class.

Resources for Teaching Online

Finding plenty of suggestions to enhance our teaching skills and to learn about special issues for online teaching with these resources.

31. How to Teach an Online Class. These steps provide plenty of information on various aspects of teaching, including creating a syllabus, creating lessons and tests, and student contact.
32. How to Set Up an E-Course. The advice here provides helpful ways to ensure our online class goes smoothly with tips on welcoming students, setting up "office hours," and more.
33. Online Courses - Tips for Making Them Work. This veteran online educator shares her experience and offers suggestions for creating an online educational environment that promotes student learning and satisfaction.
34. Tips for Training Online Instructors. Whether we will be hiring someone to teach our online course or we will be doing it yourself, this article offers plenty of good advice on how to make sure the teacher is prepared and equipped to teach online.
35. Six Tips for Students’ Online Success. This article offers advice for ways to acclimate students to an online learning environment after leaving a traditional classroom setting.
36. Teaching Online: Tips and Advice. This site offers a listing of helpful resources that cover such topics as tips and opinions, teaching with technology, journals for teachers, and discussions.
37. CADILLAC: Teaching Tips. From the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium, get links to information on what students want from online teachers to what students say about online assessment to preventing cheating in online classes.
38. Teaching Tips Index. This site is full of resources that any teacher, online or in the classroom, can use and range from preparing lesson plans to creating a syllabus to using inclusive language.
39. Tips and Tricks for Teaching Online. This resource includes help with everything from designing the online course to assessment ideas and even includes some Blackboard tutorials.
40. Tips for Teaching Online. This article offers great advice for such aspects of online teaching as keeping the lines of communication open, coping with workload, and using discussion as a tool.
41. Teaching Online: Tips and Tricks Part 1. From creating a sense of community to contact with the instructor, this article offers plenty of sound suggestions for making our online teaching experience a positive one.

How-to Videos

Watching these videos to get help with everything from creating our class in Model to using audio and visual media in our class to best teaching practices.

42. How to Create an Online Course in Model!. This video shows how to get started creating our course with Model.
43. How to Create an Online Course in Minutes. Using e Learning's Zoom, this video tutorial will walk us though the initial course set-up.
44. Best Practices in Online Education. Learning how UM BC motivated and stimulated us in this 2-hour presentation on best practices.
45. Second Life: NC State Classes Go Virtual!. Learning how two classes at NC State successfully incorporated Second Life into their structure.
46. Narrative Forms in the Digital Classroom. Discovering how this literature class at Vanderbilt University utilized online technology to teach students how to improve their critical thinking and composition skills.
47. Opencast Project Open House at UCD Berkeley. This 1 hour video presentation discusses using audio and visual media as a tool for learning, including online learning.
48. Earth Internet Solutions. Watching this video to learn how Earth Internet Solutions can help us get your class online.
49. Tips and Tricks for Teaching Math Online. Whether we are planning to teach math or not, this PowerPoint presentation offers great suggestions for keeping online students engaged.
50. Teaching Excellence Workshop Session 4 - It’s Showtime!. Watching as these instructors discuss tools used to enhance our online teaching.

Resources from the Student’s Perspective

Good educators have the ability to put themselves in our shoes in order to understand how best to reach us. These resources provide information about what makes a good online learning environment for us. Make sure our online classes provide plenty of these opportunities or even point for us to these links.

51. How Students Develop Online Learning Skills. From online discussions to instructor techniques to connections with fellow students, we will find lots of information about how online students learn best.
52. Tips for online courses. Texas A&M offers these tips to students taking online classes to ensure we get the most out of their experience.
53. Survival Tips for On-line Courses. These ten tips offer sound advice for us in general as well as online students.
54. The 7 Mistakes Distance Learners Make. Helping ensure us don’t make these mistakes while taking your online class.
55. Study Tips for Distance Learners. These tips include suggestions such as "Check our email at least once a day" and "Demonstrate good communication skills."
56. 7 Success Strategies for Distance Learners. These basics can apply to any of us, but even more so for distance learners.

Creating Content

If we need help creating content for your class, checking out these resources.

57. OER Commons. Getting free content for K-12, college-level classes, and other educational courses at this invaluable resource for online instructors creating our own courses.
58. Qua. Accessing online text books; create educational games, quizzes, and other online activities; and get unlimited math questions that cover hundreds of topics.
59. The Online Books Page. Finding a free text for our class among over 35,000 available at this site.
60. Open Course ware Consortium. Why reinvent the wheel when we have access to so many great classes already developed. Checking out the open course ware classes on the subject you hope to teach and see about incorporating them into our class.
61. Cool School. This Canadian company will develop dynamic content targeted for K-12 for your online lessons available for a fee.
62. Federal Resources for Educational Excellence. Browsing through the many available resources here which include primary documents, photos, videos, and animation in subjects ranging from jazz to American literature to astronomy–and they are all free of charge.
63. Biz/ed. This British site offers educational materials for students and educators in the fields of business, accounting, economics, travel and tourism, and sports and recreation.
64. Mrs. Gloss er’s Math Goodies. Finding math lessons, worksheets, and more at this site.
65. Distance Learning Center: Creating Online Content. The resources at this site from Community College of Allegheny County offer suggestions and links to places that will help you create content for our online class.
66. Guide to Create Content. If we want to stream digital media for our online class, learning how to do so with this resource.
67. Topmarks. Another British website, this one finds teaching resources and educational websites based on the criteria you select. We find content for early education through adult education in a variety of subjects.

Helpful Tools

Using these tools that range from catching plagiarism to reference materials to assistance with organization.

68. CopyCatch. Finding out if we are plagiarizing our work by using this application.
69. Alphabetizer. Pasting any list into this tool to immediately create an alphabetized list easily.
70. Writeboard. Creating online text documents that can be edited and shared with this tool that also integrates with Backpack.
71. WordCounter. Seeing if our 1000 word papers are actually 1000 words with this online word counter tool.
72. Google Alerts. Finding new information on our research topics or ideas for new classes by receiving email updates on any topic through Google Alerts.
73. Bartleby.com. Accessing several handy reference books for your own personal use or to encourage students to use.
74. Connotea. Researching is much easier with this tool, specifically designed for researchers, that manages online references.
75. SiteTradr. Finding out what sites educators are recommending with this tool that takes the worry out of Internet reading.
76. Nozbe. Keeping our self organized with this application that allows you to keep to-do lists, managing class projects and tasks, get reminders, sharing with students, and even accessing from your mobile phone.
77. Notely. Recommending this app to us. Noting provides tools such as note-taking, a scheduler, homework planner, a calendar, and is made especially for students.

Collaboration Tools

These tools will help keep your online class connected through group projects, communication, and more.

78. Zoho Show. Z oho Show helps us create awesome presentations that can also be shared with others.
79. Campfire. Setting up instant chat rooms with our class or study groups using Campfire and help facilitate communication between students.
80. MeetWithApproval. Planning a virtual meeting with us with this meeting planner.
81. Thinkature. We can collaborate with each other, organize thoughts and research, and prepare papers and projects with this tool.
82. Wizlite. We can use this tool to highlight any text online and share with others while working on group projects or collaborating on assignments.
83. ProBoards. Creating a discussion board easily and quickly so we create an area for class collaboration.
84. CiteULike. Sharing articles on the Internet or having us research them, then use this tool to store, organize, and share with ease from any browser.
85. Google Calendar. Using shareable calendar to keep track of assignments, tests, deadlines, meetings, and more while keeping the whole class informed.
86. ThinkFold. Thinking Fold allows groups to create interactive, real-time outlines collaboratively.
87. Notefish. We and instructors alike can save web content on Note fish notes, then organizing and sharing notes with the class.
88. PBwiki. Group collaboration is easy with this popular wiki platform.
89. writewith. For writing projects, this app keeps us working together with shared documents and tasks, discussions, and more.

Distance Education Blogs

These blogs offer the latest information on distance education, including news and information for teaching and learning online. Staying on top of what is happening in the distance education world in order to keep our online courses on the leading edge.

90. Virtual High School Meanderings. This blog looks at the many issues of distance learning, but with a specific eye on high-school online learning.
91. California Dreamin’. Learning about course development, conferences on distance education, and much more with this blog.
92. e-Learning Evangelist. Working in the world of e-learning since the mid-1990’s, this veteran online educator has plenty to share.
93. My State of Flux. Finding resources, reflections, and information about online learning in this blog.
94. BestOnlineHighSchools.com. Finding out what’s going on in the world of high school distance education by reading the information here.
95. Teaching and Developing Online. This blog offers lots of advice and links to resources to enhance the online learning environment.
96. Thoughts from BFE. The technology director from the only fully online high school program in the US blogs about technology as well as online learning in both high school and higher education.
97. Online Learning Update. This news aggregator offers all the latest trends and developments in online learning.
98. Inside eLearning by Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.. Finding information on creating effective teaching tools such as effectively using visuals in papers and how to use statistics to support your research.
99. Inspiration for Education. The news articles and interviews here offer uplifting stories that usually revolve around online education.
100. Michelle’s Online Learning Freakout Party Zone. Getting tips and resources to enhance our online learning environment with this blog.

How to Create our Own Online Course: 100 Tools, Guides, and Resources

Teen age drug abuse- a serious repercussion!

By the time they reach their teens, many young people already know someone who uses drugs. Some kids feel pressure to use drugs like alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana as early as 3rd grade. More kids are introduced to drugs during adolescence, or the junior high or middle school years. The percentage teen drug abuse increases through the high school years and into young adulthood.

Over 30 percent of 8th graders have used alcohol, and by 12th grade 66 percent of teens have used alcohol.
3 percent of 8th graders smoke tobacco.
About 10 percent of 8th graders have used marijuana. About 25 percent of 10th graders and over 30 percent of 12th graders have used marijuana.
10 percent of teens in 12th grade have abused prescription drugs. On average, 2,500 teens abuse a prescription drug for the first time every day. The use of most drugs among teens is declining. In the last decade these numbers have gone down from almost 47 percent of 8th graders using alcohol, 10 percent smoking cigarettes, and about 12 percent using marijuana. Cocaine use declined in the 1990s from its peak in the 1980s, but it has remained steady since that time. Still, about a quarter of students say that drugs are available to them at school.

The exception to the downward or steady trend of drug use among teens is the teen prescription drug abuse, especially prescription painkillers, which has been rising in recent years. In the last decade treatment for teen prescription drug addiction has increased 300 percent. Many teens have a misperception about prescription drugs, believing that they are safe because they can be obtained legally. Prescription drugs are easy to get from medicine cabinets at home or at family or friends' houses, meaning that many teens can abuse prescription drugs for free. Also, parents sometimes give their children another family member's prescription painkillers without realizing the potential dangerous side effects and addiction that can occur.

Teen Drug Use Statistics show the most common drugs abused by teens are, in descending order:
Alcohol Abuse
Marijuana
Prescription drugs (opiates)
Stimulants like meths and ecstasy
Sedatives and tranquilizers
Cocaine
Hallucinogens like LSD (acid) or PCP
Inhalants
Steroids
Heroin
The drugs that are abused most commonly - alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drugs - may be appealing to teens because they think there is no risk involved in using them. Unfortunately, the use of any of these drugs during the teen years can have serious long-term consequences on a teens physical and mental well being. A teens brain is still developing, so using any drugs during the teen years can cause problems with the teens growth, development, and long term health. Also, using these drugs lowers teens' inhibitions, which can lead to other dangerous choices like driving under the influence or having unprotected sex.

Because teen drug use dangerous, parents should be aware of signs that their teen may be abusing drugs. Signs that a teen may be using drugs include:
Having drugs or drug paraphernalia
Medications or alcohol missing from your home or the home of family members or friends
A change in friends, or hanging out with friends who use drugs
Red or glassy eyes, or dilated pupils
Slow, slurred speech or talking unusually fast and jumping from subject to subject
A dramatic change in appearance
Lack of concern with appearance or hygiene
Unexplained change in weight
Change in performance at school or learning problem lying or acting sneaking
Not caring about risks, consequences, or the future
Being disrespectful or aggressive toward family members or family rules and values
Showing signs of depression or withdrawal
Defensiveness when questioned about activities or drug use
Losing interest in favorite activities

Also, teens who are using or abusing drugs often need money to continue their drug use, though you may not be aware of their money problems. Some signs that teens may be seeking money for drugs include:
Valuables missing from your home
Your teen having unexplained money or valuables
Getting in trouble with the law - teen violence
Stealing money or drugs
Borrowing money
Always being out of money even if they have an allowance or a job

It is best to start talking to your teens about teen drug use before they have a problem, but if you think your teen is using drugs, it's important to talk to them right away. Teens need help to overcome their teen drug abuse.

Teen drug abuse has been declining in the United States for the last decade, but several drugs remain a dangerous problem for many teens. Parents and other adults should know the signs of teen drug abuse so they can get help for teens who have a problem with drug use and abuse.

Ten Best Practices for online Teaching!

Teaching online and within a course management system for the first time can feel like exploring a new and unfamiliar space: the individual components look familiar, but the overall feeling is quite different.

The primary difference between the online teaching classroom and the classroom of the campus-based course is how students and faculty communicate and the range of tools that they use to communicate. After all, we don't see the students; rather, we get to know the students by what they write and say in the discussion boards, in their assignments and to a lesser degree, in email and phone and collaborative online classrooms

The communication tool that is the heart and soul of the online course community is the discussion board. Very simply, the discussion board is the primary place where faculty talk to students and students talk to other students. This is the place where students and faculty get to know one another; this is the tool that helps a widely dispersed group of students and faculty become a learning community.

Research into teaching online is still in its infancy. However, here are ten practices that contribute to an effective, efficient and satisfying teaching and learning experience for both faculty and students.

Best Practice 1: "Be Present at the Course Site"

Liberal use of the two tools -- announcements and discussion board postings -- communicate to the students that the faculty member cares about who they are, cares about their questions and concerns, and is generally "present" to do the mentoring and challenging that teaching is all about.

When faculty in a face-to-face classroom actively interact and engage the students, the class evolves as a group and develop intellectual and personal bonds. The same type of bonding happens in an online setting.

We have learned to quantify what it means to "be present." The "best online" faculty -- according to students -- are faculty who show their presence multiple times a week, and at best daily. Setting clear expectations at the beginning of a course with course policies is very helpful, however and can reduce the need for daily presence if that is not your particular style. Setting regular times when you can meet in a virtual classroom, and thus be available -- almost in real time similar to office hours, can be invaluable.

Note: Students who feel abandoned or who feel alone may even post questions, such as "Is anybody there?" This is a very clear and unambiguous signal that not all is well.

Best Practice 2: Create a supportive online course community.

A good strategy for developing a supportive online course community is to design a course with a balanced set of dialogues. This means designing a course so that the three dialogues of faculty to student, student to student and student to resource are about equal. In an online course in the current PHC certificate program, the dialogue of faculty to student is provided with the (1) captured lectures and (2) the weekly announcements and (3) explanations/interactions with the students.

Here are three strategies that can be used to encourage peer-to-peer, student-to-student engagement and thus the building of a course community,

• Launch the class with a personal introduction posting so that students can get to know one another and you get to know "where students' heads are." The types of info often shared by faculty and students include info on professional experiences, personal information such as family/friends/pets, and a photograph. Faculty also often include a note about their teaching philosophy and research projects.
• Encourage use of a general open student forum for students to post and request help and assistance from each other through the various student-to-student tools, such as discussions, help areas, etc.
• Set up small groups where students can assume responsibility for supportive mentoring of fellow students and summarizing key points of a class assignment. The students might work in groups of 4-5. This strategy is similar to a study group. (This may be something you want to try with the data analysis assignments.) If you want to do this, ask Susan for help.)
• Set up problem-solving forums or discussions boards, and assign students or student teams to monitor and support or direct questions.

Note: Learning within the setting of an online course community will work better for some students than for others. Some students may choose not to participate very actively at all; other students find it is the best way for them to learn in an online setting. The point of this is that for those students who need it, it is essential part of how they learn. Vygotsky's theories remind us of how much we learn as social beings within a social context. The online community is part of what makes this happen for some students.

Best Practice 3: Share a set of very clear expectations for your students and for yourself as to (1) how you will communicate and (2) how much time students should be working on the course each week.

This best practice cannot be overemphasized. Include on your course site a set of expectations for how students communicate and dialogue online and how they communicate with you. For example, many faculty tell students that they can expect a response within 24 hours during the week. Often before a major test or assignment, faculty will agree to hold special office hours by computer, being available either by chat/live classroom or email, or phone. In the interests of time and community, it is best to use a tool where responses and content can be shared with everyone and archived for flexibility in access and review.

This basic expectation of response time can easily be modified -- so long as the change is communicated to the students. It is easy to know what to do, if we think about the students as family for the term. Students are very accepting of a faculty member's time and life requirements if they know what is going on. And students often step in and help each other even more when they know a faculty member is sick, traveling or otherwise not available.

Often students can agree to monitor course questions posted in the Open Forum or in the discussion boards for a week for example.

Online learning is just as intensive as learning face-to-face, and time to do the work needs to be scheduled and planned for, just as if one were attending face-to-face classes. Being clear as to how much effort and time will be required on a weekly basis keeps surprises to a minimum.

Best Practice 4: Use a variety of large group, small group, and individual work experiences

A community works well when there are a variety of activities and experiences. Online courses can be more enjoyable and effective when students have the opportunity to brainstorm and work through concepts and assignments with either one or two or more fellow students. At the same time some students work and learn best on their own. So, building in options and opportunities for students to work together and individually is highly recommended.

Working in teams is particularly effective when working on complex case studies or scenarios for the first time.

Best Practice 5: Use both synchronous and asynchronous activities

When online courses were first introduced, they were almost totally asynchronous -- an updated version of the distance learning courses by correspondence. Now we have course management systems and virtual live classrooms that make it possible to do almost everything we do in campus classrooms. Plus we can often engage learners in more collaborative and more reflective activities.

Sometimes there is nothing better than a real-time interactive brainstorming and sharing discussion; other times the requirement to think, plan, write and summarize is what makes learning most effective for an individual. The variety of activities that are now possible online makes it possible to create many types of effective learning environments.

For example, in many financial and statistical courses, real time problem-solving and question and answer review sessions can be very effective learning experiences. While working professionals often choose to complete advanced degrees online so that they can make use of the asynchronous, anytime, anywhere features of a program, these same learners enjoy getting together from anywhere at a specific time to interact in real time.

Best Practice 6: Early in the term -- about week 3, ask for informal feedback on "How is the course going?" and "Do you have any suggestions?"

Course evaluations have been called "post mortem" evaluations as they are done after the fact, and nothing can be changed to increase satisfaction or facilitate learning. Early feedback surveys or just informal discussions ask students to provide feedback on what is working well in a course and what might help them have a better course experience. This early feedback is done early in the course so corrections and modifications can be made. It is an easy opening for students who might have comments or suggestions or questions.

Best Practice 7: Prepare Discussion Posts that Invite Questions, Discussions, Reflections and Responses

Discussions in an online course are the equivalent of class discussions in a face-to-face class. A key difference, of course, is that these discussions are asynchronous, providing time for thought and reflection and requiring written /and or audio responses that become part of a course archive.

Discussions might be designed for one of the following purposes (Painter, et al., 2003; and Goodyear et al 2003, cited in Grogan, 2005):

• Provide an open question and answer forum
• Encourage critical or creative thinking
• Reinforcing domain or procedural processes
• Achieve social interaction and community building-- have the students get to know each other personally and intellectually
• Validating experiences
• Supporting students in their own reflections and inquiries

Here are a few hints for discussion postings culled from many conversations with experienced online faculty.

Quick One-Liner Hints

• Create open-ended questions that learners can explore and apply the concepts that they are learning
• Model good Socratic-type probing and follow-up questions. Why do you think that? What is your reasoning? Is there an alternative strategy? Ask clarifying questions that encourage students to think about what they know and don't know.
• Stagger due dates of the responses and consider mid-point summary and /or encouraging comments
• Provide guidelines and instruction on responding to other students. For example, suggest a two-part response: (1) what you liked or agreed with or what resonated with you, and (2) a follow-up question such as what you are wondering about or curious about, etc.
• Provide choices and options for students. Providing choices for students in questioning follows the principle of providing options for personalized and customized learning for students and a way of validating and affirming knowledge and skills. Working professionals are often grappling with many issues -- providing choices and options makes it possible to link the learning more directly with their work experiences and needs.
• Don't post questions soliciting basic facts, or questions for which there is an obvious yes/no response." The reason for this is obvious. Once one student responds, there is not much more to say! Very specific fact-based questions that you want to be sure that you students know are best used in practice quizzes.
• Reminder: Log in to your course at least 4 times a week -- answer email, monitor discussions, post reminders, and hold online office hours.

You may also want to peruse some of the hints about questioning from other e coaching hints available at www. designing for learning.info/services/writing/e coach/index.htm.

Best Practice 8: Focus on content resources and applications and links to current events and examples that are easily accessed from learner's computers.

If content is not digital, it is as if it does not exist for students. This means that the content that students will more likely use is that content and applications that are available from their computers. Students want to be learning anywhere, anytime and often while they are doing other things, such as driving, exercising, etc. Carrying around large, heavy textbooks feels like an anachronism.

For many courses and disciplines, however, textbooks are not yet available in digital form, so this best practice applies mostly to supplementary resources and to library resources. A reference document with detailed instructions on accessing library resources is included in most courses. Additionally, a key member of the instructional team is the library reference person assigned to supporting online learners.

Students enjoy seeing how what they are learning links to current news events. Thus, building into a course discussions and links to current events is often motivating to learners. So, this best practice includes the following: "Encourage students to help make the best use of the world of Internet resources." Here are some ideas.

• Enlist student assistance in identifying high quality content that is available online. This can include tutorials, simulations and supplementary stat material online.

• Incorporate into assignments and discussions how the various statistical tools are used in professional situations and in decision-making. Include examples of when and why they helped and perhaps when they went awry.

Best Practice 9: Combine core concept learning with customized and personalized learning

This best practice combines a number of basic learning principles, explained in length in other resources. Very briefly, it means that faculty identify the core concepts to be learned in a course -- the performance goals -- and then mentor learners through a set of increasingly complex and even customized projects applying these core concepts. Many online learners within professional certificate programs are working professionals. Supporting learners with their professional goals that are closely linked to the performance goals of a course and even beyond the course parameters is a win-win for the learners individually and as a class. How does one do this? Overtime, building in options and choices in assignments and special projects is a way to do this.

Another key principle that aids in concept learning comes from Vygotsky (1962, 1978). Vygotsky notes that concepts are not words, but rather organized and intricate knowledge clusters. This is a simple, but profound principle. This means that while we must teach in a linear fashion, presenting concepts individually and in small clusters, we need to apply concepts within case studies, problems and analyses that combine concepts and principles within a context. Effectively learning concepts -- as we know from novice and expert studies -- requires a focus on patterns and relationships and not individual facts or vocabulary.

When faced with a new field or discipline, students often focus on learning the vocabulary of a discipline, but this activity is often done in isolation from an understanding of the concepts that give the words meaning. Without the underlying concepts, words are akin to isolated "weeds" and "seeds" likely to be blown away by the winds of time, usually mere hours after an exam.

A popular new teaching and learning theory advocates making students' thinking visible. Making our thinking visible requires students to create, talk, write, explain, analyze, judge, report and inquire. These types of activities make it clear to students themselves, to the faculty, and to fellow learners what students know or don't know, what they are puzzled about and about what they might be curious. Such activities stimulate student's growth from concept awareness to concept acquisition, building in that "series of intellectual operations" that Vygotsky believes is required for concept acquisition.

Discussion forums, blogging, journals and small group work are all excellent strategies for engaging learners in clarifying and enlarging their mental models or concepts and building links and identifying relationships.

Best Practice 10: Plan a good closing and wrap activity for the course.

As courses come to a close, it is easy to forget the value of a good closing experience. In the final weeks of a course, students are likely to be stressed and not take the time to do the lists and the planning that can help reduce stress and provide a calming atmosphere. A favorite image of mine is from David Allen of "Getting Things Done." Allen notes that making a list helps us to clear the "psychic ram" of our brains and we feel more relaxed and more in control. Once we have made our list and schedule, we don't have to continually remind ourselves of what needs to be done and when!

Here are a few hints for closing out a course experience with style and panache.

• Take Time to Remind Students of What's Next and When Assignments and Readings are Due. Announcements of this type provide a "To Do" list and schedule for the learners. And by implication this list provides a helpful "To Do" list and schedule for you! As always, it is good to post such reminders in two or more places on the course site, and make references to it when you are present.

• Plan the Ending of the Course Experience. A well-designed ending of a course provides opportunities for reflection and integration of useful knowledge. It is also a time to wrap up positive social and cognitive experiences.

End-of-course experiences often include student presentations, summaries and analyses. These reports and presentations provide insights into just what useful knowledge students are taking away from a course and a final opportunity for faculty to remind students of core concepts and fundamental principles.

Traditional courses have long focused on tools and techniques for the presentation of content. Traditional concerns from faculty focused on covering the material, getting through the book and meeting expectations so that faculty in other courses won't muse and wonder, "Didn't you learn these concepts from faculty X?" And didn't you study the work and contributions of ____ (Fill in your favorite who!)

A major drawback with designing for content as a priority is that it focuses attention on what the faculty member is doing, thinking and talking about and not on the interaction and engagement of students with the core concepts and skills of a course. The new focus on learners encourages a focus on learners as a priority. The new focus on the student is to develop a habit of asking, what is going on inside the student's head? How much of the content is being integrated into their knowledge base? How much of the content and the tools can he/she actually use? What are students thinking and how did they arrive at their respective positions?

We have much to learn about teaching and learning and specifically about teaching online. The good news is that in 2007-08 we now know much more than what we did in 1990 or even 1995. The list of references that follow are starting points for both general teaching and for teaching online -- most specifically when teaching for the first time.

Research in Best Practices of Online Learning!

Online learning has made great strides in higher education in the past five years, with wide adoption of course management platforms such as Blackboard, Web CT, e-College, and Angel, as well as emerging open source solutions. Many institutions are still unclear about how this new technology fits with their mission, however, and have found that achieving widespread adoption by faculty is difficult. They have also found it challenging to achieve faculty use that truly enhances the learning interaction between faculty and students as opposed to simply posting materials online.

Some studies have reported dramatic growth of online courses, but what is really going on?

A recent study by the Alliance for Higher Education competitiveness, achieving success in Internet-Supported Learning in Higher Education:-

Case Studies Illuminate Success Factors, Challenges, and Future Directions, pulled from the experiences of 21 institutions across all Carnegie classifications to provide insights into best practices for achieving success in online learning. More importantly for higher education leaders, the study identified some potential root causes of success (or lack of success). These common denominators of success provide a framework for understanding why some initiatives succeed while others do not—and what conditions can be created to make improvements.

Motives and Leadership

The 21 institutions selected to participate in the research described themselves as being successful in online learning:-

Five community colleges, seven baccalaureate/master’s institutions (five private, two public), and nine research/doctoral institutions (one private, eight public). While success in online learning is clearly a subjective indicator, participants included institutions ranging from Penn State, which supports some 62,000 students with online technology, to Peirce College, which—while much smaller—generates 46 percent of its revenue from online programs.
Successful institutions had compelling reasons to support online learning. The primary motivation is a desire to increase service to students in a way consistent with their needs and the mission of the institution.

This alignment between student service and mission can take many forms:-

The mission component to serve working adults coupled with the strong need of these students to have more flexibility in receiving effective instruction. The mission component to serve more students coupled with the need to keep costs reasonable for students. This can be achieved in a number of ways, one of which is to use online technology to eliminate the need for additional physical classroom space. The mission component to provide a more personalized learning experience for students by using online technology to support things like increased collaboration, ability to replay lecture portions on demand, or bring in subject experts virtually to increase the breadth of the learning experience.The study also indicated a predominant leadership style that most likely contributed to the success in achieving mission alignment.

The key leadership elements

A long-term commitment to the initiative Investment of significant financial and other resources Prioritization of expenditures on high-impact programs.A clear understanding by faculty of why the institution is implementing online learning. In particular, the involvement of key leaders in prioritizing where to focus online learning development activities was critical and highly correlated with perceived success in these institutions.

What form did prioritization take?

Study participants repeatedly said that the best strategy was to start with your strongest programs, ideally the ones for which you are nationally ranked (or have some other distinguishing characteristic) and have a proven demand. Do not look for a market where you do not have a track record of success. In essence, most institutions already have the best market research—their existing record. Some did benefit from national market research to decide whether to expand beyond the local area. A renewed focus on a once-growing program now losing enrollments was also a strategy that worked for some.
Study participants, when asked if a widespread perception existed that the institution was committed to online education, answered that there was no doubt. They also indicated that past financial support was adequate and future financial support was apparent. In other words, online learning was not a one-time event or investment.

Focus on Programs

Probably the most significant finding was that institutions that focused on putting full programs online were about four times as likely to perceive that they had achieved "overwhelming success" as institutions that focused their efforts at the individual course level. Putting a full program online, when done correctly and focused on student learning, involves teamwork within the academic department and among several units of the institution. For the online program to succeed, it must be thought through carefully and perhaps re engineered to serve students differently and, hopefully, better.
The most common success factors of those institutions implementing the "programmatic approach" include support resources dedicated to the selected program(s) (93 percent) Development of a project plan, including schedule and milestones (87 percent) Prioritization from institutional leadership to choose programs having the most impact (86 percent) Program redesign sessions to help faculty leaders create a better program (74 percent) Pedagogy defined to reflect the uniqueness of the program(s) (73 percent) Involvement of enrollment management in the program planning (67 percent) Development of success measures, such as enrollment targets (67 percent)Looking at the factors, one could say that much of this was just good management, but it is also clear that these institutions are implementing new course and program formats to reflect the unique pedagogy of their program and/or institution. In other words, they are doing a lot more than just posting course notes or syllabi's online. They are creating a more effective learning experience at the program level.
While the predominance of online activity today is of the simple syllabi's-posting type, referred to in the study as "Web-supported" courses, this was not true in the study institutions. When asked where they expect to spend more effort in the future ("Which of the online course types do you see gaining in relative importance at your institution in the next three years?"), they responded as been liable.

Faculty Support and Student Services

In online learning, faculty are asked to make the biggest changes, with unclear rewards. The programmatic approach provides a framework that supports faculty working together to create a better student experience. Today, a quality online learning experience still has much more to do with the faculty member teaching the course than anything else. It’s still the teaching, not the technology.

So, how can an institution support faculty involved in online learning endeavors?

The study elicited the following best practices:-

Nurture grass-roots faculty ideas. Make sure they are at the center as programs move online, and ensure that all faculty who want to venture online have the support services they need. Provide frequent and clear communication on why the move to online is important to the institutional mission. Provide faculty with support in online technology and pedagogy so that they can focus on using the tools to enhance their interactivity with students. Provide one-on-one instructional-design consultations along with staff-development classes that require faculty to experience online courses from the student perspective and to develop their own online courses. Recognize the scholarship of teaching and the improved quality it promotes.Several study participants indicated that one of their most important lessons was to take into account the complete set of student services required for students to receive more of their education online. A cross all the participants, student services tied for third for an open-ended question regarding the most important factors in achieving success.
Course materials must be available and easy to use, and students must have someone to call when they need technical help. A new trend was to establish a contact point for resolution of any student issue. This individual went by many names, such as program coordinator or advisor. Other student support services predominant at the successful institutions are discussed in the full study.

Goals and Measurements

The majority of institutions in the study felt they had done better than they initially expected. Generally, they expected growth in the range of 15 to 25 percent. Most explicitly stated the paramount importance of balancing quality with growth.
What measures of success did the study institutions use? fully 50 percent focused on student outcomes and satisfaction.

Key Lessons

How can you tell if your initiatives stack up?

The following questions should give you important insights into where you can improve:-

1. What key mission objective, aligned with a primary student need, will be the focus of your online learning activities?

2. Do you have an effective executive review process, formal or informal, to prioritize the program selection, faculty selection, and support activities to move online? Are you committed to supporting these activities over the long term?

3. Are you focusing most of your effort at the program level? Are you redesigning programs so that they are enhanced by fully online or hybrid delivery?

4. Are grass-roots faculty efforts being supported along with the programmatic priorities? Are faculty supported in learning how to transform their teaching expertise to the online environment?

5. Are you providing highly reliable and easy online access for students coupled with a single point of contact that can resolve issues or concerns?

6. Have you established quantifiable metrics that are balanced between quality and growth?

7. Have you set objectives that demonstrate consistent progress?

The study results imply that, taken in total and roughly in order, positive answers to these questions will result in substantial progress and success in online learning in higher education.