Confucius once said, “Success depends on previous
preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” Setting up an online course requires a lot of
preparation. As an elementary teacher I have
found that prepared lessons always turn out better than those lesson that I have
thrown together last minute.
It is extremely important to know the technology you
are dealing with as the instructor. Boettcher and Conrad (2010)
caution that when teaching an online course for the first time, it is smart to “keep
it simple” (p. 57). “Focus on the
essential tools, and build your first course around those” (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010, p. 57). A course management system (CMS) is one of
those important first tools to become familiar with, according to Boettcher and
Conrad (2010). This will assure students
in the online course, and you as the instructor, have a place to communicate. This is where the course interactions take
place, thus, may be the most important piece of technology needed in the
course. It is also important that an
instructor is familiar with the usage of email, in order to communicate with
students (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010).
Over time an instructor needs to become familiar with more tools that
can be used within a course, such as audacity, blogs, social networking sites,
etc. (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010).
As an instructor, it is always important to have clear
expectations, whether the course be online or face-to-face. In the online community, it is especially essential
to be clear with expectations since the students will be viewing the information
from the syllabus or course assignments on their own. It is also important to communicate to
students when you, as the instructor, will get back to the student if a problem
should arise. Boettcher and Conrad (2010) state, “I’ll reply to emails
within twenty-four to forty-eight hours during the workweek. I’ll check urgent messages on the weekends”
(p. 74). This tells the students exactly
what to expect when emailing their instructor, whether it be a weekday or
weekend. This is just one example of how
an instructor can make sure students know what they can expect throughout a
course. In a course through Walden University
I liked that the instructor gave an introduction stating the time their email
is usually checked during the day as well.
The instructor stated, “I check my email first think in the morning on
workdays.” This helped me to know what
to expect. Anything extra the instructor
can do to help the students is always a plus.
It is important for
an online instructor to recognize student are coming from all different areas
of the world, with different backgrounds, and diverse cultures. I think that is the most difficult thing to
overcome when designing an online course, students will be very diverse. That is also what makes creating icebreakers for
students to get to know one another and designing assignments where students
are asked to share some background experiences so exciting. As the experts in Laureate Education (2010)
discuss, it is important as an instructor to set up a community early on. An instructor should be leery about posting academic-based
introductions, according to Laureate Education (2010), rather he/she should post
personal information to show students that they are personable. I think this is an important piece of
information to note.
It will take some experience
and learning as a course instructor to get the hang of all the details of
designing and facilitating a course, but with these tips in mind, one can
hopefully be one step ahead. I will reference
back to the Confucius quote where I started.
Always, always prepare and you will succeed.
Resources
Boettcher,
J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple
and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Laureate Education (Producer).
(2010). Launching the online learning experience [Video file].
Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
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