By Virgil Varvel

The facilitator plays a vital role in developing and maintaining an online program that is effective, smooth, and that will support the realization of the planned learning outcomes. Faculty delivering courses online must be more than transmitters of knowledge; they must become facilitators of learning. Some highly seasoned instructors from the traditional on-ground environment will easily adapt to the online model, while others may find the transition challenging at first. The facilitator in the online environment must possess a unique set of tools to perform effectively.

Online instructors need Basic Skills to form a base for the use of pedagogical competencies

By: Virgil E. Varvel Jr.

Introduction

Objectives describe what learners will be able to do at the end of instruction, and they provide clear reasons for teaching. When writing objectives be sure to describe the intended result of instruction rather than the process of instruction itself.

Clearly defined learning objectives are useful for instructors, instructional designers and students:

Before designing a lesson for the Internet or for the face-to-face classroom it is vital to have developed objectives. We must know what it is we want the students to do before we can write a lesson to help them achieve those objectives.

Consider the following objectives

Understand the concept of gas pressure.
Know how to solve stoichiometry problems.

Below I have included two storyboard examples to help demonstrate the uses described in this article. I usually create my storyboards on paper for projects that I complete on my own, so I have had to convert these for Web purposes. I have added comments not present in the storyboard as brackets.

Sample 1

The first example is from a tutorial presented within an HTML5 document.

Once storyboards have been developed, they can then be put into use to create your course. By creating a complete overview of a course, one can better place content, multimedia, and interactivity in a pedagogically effective and visually appealing manner. Certain pitfalls of course development such as missing information, redundant information, poor transitions, etc. can be avoided. There are also fewer questions among a group of developers. The storyboard can serve as a constant reference point on which the design process can be centered.

• Consider objectives
  The rest of the design stage should be centered around how best to meet the objectives for the audience and its needs.
• Organize all information and media elements that have already been developed.

Reasons for Storyboards

Visually Displaying an Overview of Information

Storyboards are graphical by nature and can give one a simple means of seeing how the information on their Web pages will appear prior to going into the Web development phase. Problems such as oversized information chunks, image placement, presentation organization, and others can be avoided.