As a new online instructor, you may have many questions about online learning and how it will function. At ION, we feel that taking an online course as a student will help to make you a better online instructor. Thinking through your answers to the questions below will help you begin to think through the dynamics of an online course. Completing this exercise with another instructor will hopefully generate a lot of thought provoking discussion since there are many right answers to each question.

The Illinois Online Network presented a 6-hour workshop on online teaching and learning at the SLOAN-C (Now OLC) Conference, Orlando, FL in November of 2002. There were numerous topics and activities performed during this workshop. The links below show some of the presentations and activities that were completed.

Teaching online requires many of the same skills and techniques instructors use in traditional classes, but there are some differences. In an online course, students access the course materials over the Web at any time of day or night. Often much of the information students acquire in the course comes from the class textbook (if one is assigned) and other readings, along with what they get from library research, Internet resources, and other resources.

Many innovative instructors at institutions world-wide are discovering the potential of the online environment to deliver instruction of the highest quality to people who would otherwise have limited access to higher education. This is an exciting and challenging time in education. Online education is bringing collaborative learning to the forefront and is affecting the way traditional courses are taught as well. Simply defined, online education refers to courses offered via the Internet.

Although the idea is simple and the name evolved from a slang term for quick, wikis have quickly become a standard method of collaborative creation. A wiki represents a tool whereby users can jointly work on the same document that is stored externally on a wiki server. In a wiki-based lesson, students work to collaboratively construct a document designed to meet some educational objective.

Webquests use Internet resources in inquiry based learning. The focus is on using and evaluating information more than searching for it. Webquests usually provide the list of Web resources rather than require students to begin with a search engine. The model was first developed using the name Webquest by Bernie Dodge and Tom March at San Diego State University in 1995.

Appropriate Content Areas

All, although there are fewer examples in mathematics than most others.

The instructor provides a well formulated question that requires personal responses from students. These responses elicit further questions and so on. It is sometimes referred to as teaching through questioning.

Appropriate Content Areas

Typical in ethics studies within any curriculum, politics, psychology, social studies, higher order mathematical concepts, and law.

Students take part in an online simulation activity. Following the activity, some assessment should be linked to verify student learning. A brief statement can be submitted by the students describing what they learned. For simulations that have numerical representations, a list of answers or a graph may be submitted. Student might also answer a discussion question about the simulation.

Appropriate Content Areas

Any. Often used in Mathematics, Physics, Biology, and Chemistry.

Internet scavenger hunts serve as a great way to hone student Web searching ability and problem solving. They can be an evaluative activity when students have to find information of a specific type or value. They also can serve as an ice-breaker. The lesson involves providing students with a goal and then having them search the Internet to fulfill that goal.