Dr. Eileen Gallagher

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 classroom teachers or school technology teachers 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.