From: Wikipedia- Should we allow the use of this web site?
While I was doing my undergraduate work, a lot of my professors did not allow us to use Wikipedia as a source. They would explain to us a little bit… ...
From: Wikipedia- Should we allow the use of this web site?
I am a student at AIU and I personally feel research for students is vitally important. However the use of Wikipedia isn't always a good source to… ...
From: Wikipedia- Should we allow the use of this web site?
I also do not let students use wikipedia, if it can be found there great but verify it with a more credible source from the library. Though I don't… ...
Several of the national technology conferences have seen an increase in educators wanting to be able to prepare online courses. Many school districts are trying to offer online courses to expand their offerings and to provide access to homebound students. Unfortunately the districts seem to be expecting class room teachers or school technology teacher to develop these classes. The result has been an influx of substandard or inadequate online classes.
OnLine classes are not simply a matter of placing the class room material on to a web page and expecting the student to do the work. When you remove the face to face contact with the teacher, you must be prepared to replace it with other help for the student. Traditional classrooms use reading material to provide background and the instructor to make the subject matter come alive. The instructor promotes discussion between students and adds real world rationales for learning the material. Group projects are utilized to promote cooperation and team building. There are many different aspects to learning that are provided in a traditional classroom that can be completely left out of the online class.
There are many myths about developing online courses. Everything from each teacher can make their own to not needing to make special access for special needs students. In truth, developing an accessible, effective online course requires expertise in several areas: an expert in the chosen curriculum, an expert in instructional design and an expert in informational technology. Having a team working together to produce the right information, in an excellent learning environment that has no technological glitches is the best way to develop online learning. It will save time and money to start with an appropriate team and work from there.
Thanks Carla. AT AIU we constantly work towards offering new programs for our students. My Bachelor’s degree was in Pyschology from a traditional school. Way back then we did not have online courses or even personal computers. 
We hope you will decide to stick with AIU as you continue on with your education and who knows maybe we will meet some day if you enter our Masters of Education program. Good Luck.
CarlaMcCoy |Sep. 25, 2008 @ 12:18 AM
Hello, I’m currently enrolled with AIU as a student who is taking classes in order to receive my Associates in Business Administration. I’ve had a very hard time here lately trying to decide if I want to come back to AIU for my BA in Criminal Justice or if I want to pursue my BA at a different college for Psychology. I’ll have to agree with this post. I can only imagine how must time, effort, and hard work it would be to develop online courses. I do wish AIU would offer a Psychology Degree of some sort, but at the same time, I realize how difficult it must be just getting the entire online college courses in order that are already available. This is a great post, one that all students should read.