Developing and Teaching On-line Courses 

Mike Phillips
Illinois Valley Community College

Faculty who can teach courses in part or completely on-line are in high demand.  Participants will discuss the various types of on-line offerings and key steps in developing on-line materials and courses.  The session will also discuss some of the common difficulties encountered in on-line teaching and learning and how those difficulties can be addressed.

1.	Why on-line?
a.	benefits
i.	asynchronous - always available
ii.	not place-bound
iii.	easy access to resources
iv.	some students more open
b.	concerns
i.	lack of face-to-face contact
ii.	some students more closed
iii.	difficult environment for lab/hands-on-samples
c.	challenges
i.	engagement
ii.	assessment
iii.	TIME
On-line courses are becoming popular and colleges and universities are looking for (and requiring) faculty to teach in this environment.  For the students, the on-line environment offers a chance to open up their schedule as well as participate in courses not offered locally.  For the faculty, the web provides a place to have course materials available 24-7 and an additional place to engage students.  This environment is especially challenging for freshman-sophomore level students because they are used to having a teacher present to remind them to do their work.  For the faculty, on-line courses typically require more time and lower enrollment caps.

2.	Types of On-line Courses (and a step-wise progression for course development)
a.	Web-supported
b.	Web hybrid/reduced seat-time
c.	Fully on-line
The best way to start teaching on-line (IMHO) is to develop web-based support materials for each of your courses, require students to use them, and assess the materials’ value in engaging students and improving learning outcomes.  This provides an opportunity to try new techniques and discuss them with the students directly; this also benefits students who are new to on-line education. 

Step two is to move more of the course on-line and reduce F2F contact time (e.g. a 4-hour course that meets 2 hours a week).  The F2F time that remains allows you to work on student engagement and assess the effectiveness of the on-line materials; this is especially valuable to students new to on-line learning.  (Editorial: I think it is worth the effort to promote courses in this format to the administration for just this reason.)  This type of course also allows you to find which on-line strategies will be most effective in YOUR hands and for each course.

Step three is a course that is completely on-line.  Choosing to move a class completely on-line is often based on administrative desires.  Choosing the appropriate techniques is key.  In my experience, the best on-line courses are like graduate and upper-class seminars, with students researching and discussing course topics guided by the instructor.  This is a good opportunity to introduce undergraduates to high levels of learning, but it takes a great deal of work to keep them engaged and on track.

3.	Key components
a.	Syllabus
i.	DETAILED requirements
ii.	DETAILED grading rubric(s)
iii.	DETAILED schedule
iv.	contact info
b.	Materials
i.	lectures
(1)	text
(2)	outlines
(3)	power point
(4)	audio
(5)	video
ii.	link pages
iii.	assignments
iv.	exams
c.	Discussion forums
i.	group
ii.	private
iii.	blogs
iv.	networking sites
d.	Assessment
i.	homework
ii.	discussions
iii.	group work
iv.	exams
v.	other
The advantage of an on-line course is that almost everything can be set up prior to the semester starting and parts can be available for all to see year-round.  (Actually this is a necessity because once the semester starts, working with the students takes a lot of time.)  The inclusion of detailed information is very important because there is little opportunity, if any, to make the off-the-cuff remarks typical in the F2F classroom.  Your checking and responding to e-mail and discussion forums several times every day (including evenings and weekends) is a typical student expectation.

Written text is probably the least effective material to place on-line.  Power-point slides are better, especially if linked to pictures and audio.  Audio clips (including pod-casts) and short video clips can be very good, but some students still use dial-up, so file size can become an issue.  I like outlines with links to web sites, and all the listed materials.  It can take several semesters to provide that kind of variety, and you should expect to update constantly.

In my experience, the most powerful component is the threaded (asynchronous) discussion.  Most students are comfortable with texting, e-mail, etc. and will begin discussing course materials on-line ereadily.  Your first job is to get the course to be part of the students’ daily on-line ritual.  Once that goal is met, you need to monitor the discussion and jump in only to keep the group on the right track; the less said by the instructor, the better.  This is great “guide-on-the-side” territory.

What bothers many faculty new to the web is the question “whose work is this really?”  The two most common approaches to this are to have lots of written work for the students, which allows you to learn individual styles and abilities, and proctored exams at fixed locations.  (Remember, most faculty do not check student ID’s in the classroom.)/home/www/temp_file_repository/0.01833700_1185223361