Week 3: Setting Up An Online Learning Experience

 

Setting Up An Online Learning Experience

Ideally, the course structure is designed to achieve the outcome established, and the technology will support the design.  However, with significant advancements in learning technology, systems, and tools, course designs must integrate it as the standard virtual infrastructure.  Instructors and course designers must focus on delivering the learning outcomes using the best available tools (Boettcher & Conrad, 2016).  Online instructors must be competent in using learning management systems and online platforms that support virtual environments to facilitate the course and learners without interruption.  It is also essential to review the standard technology used by the program for updates (Boettcher & Conrad, 2016).  Proactive improvements and reactive updates based on student surveys directly impact how often the technology is enhanced.  Additionally, instructors must train learners on how to use the tools to complete assignments.  A tutorial and practice activities presented at the beginning of the course ensure that the student will be comfortable using the tool for graded assignments (Boettcher & Conrad, 2016).

Sharing clear expectations with learners sets the tone for appropriate behavior in the online environment.  The course syllabus effectively establishes the learner's expectations by sharing the learning goals, activity schedule, resources, grading scale, assignment requirements, and criteria for academic behavior (Boettcher & Conrad, 2016).  Each week, the activity schedule guides the learners on what they will learn and how each topic will build on the previous topic to ensure retention.  Establishing communication patterns encourages the learners to share questions in the discussion forum to enable other classmates and the instructor to respond and learn from the resulting replies.  Additionally, learners need to know the instructor's availability, response time, and contact for troubleshooting.

In addition to the course technology and syllabus, instructors must review the course resources to ensure that the references are still active and relevant to the topic.  Resources must provide the learner with past lessons and present innovations to be considered beneficial.  They must also incorporate new sources of information to keep the course current and relevant.  If using online resources, hyperlinks and websites must to verified to ensure they are valid.

 

References:

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2016). The Online Teaching Survival Guide: Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips (2nd Edition).  Wiley Professional Development (P&T)