2 Principles of Online Design

Principle: 1.1.2 Instructional analysis should determine the suitability of a course for online delivery with present technology capability.

This is an extremely important principle to remember and revisit on a regular basis. New technology is constantly emerging that expands the number of classes that can be effectively taught online. Often a combination of technologies can be used to achieve the course goals. For example, an online course could make use of a wiki, a collaborative documents system such as Google Docs, and a video conferencing system. It is also important to periodically re-examine the possibilities of moving a classroom course online as the available technology changes. What isn’t possible with today’s technology, maybe possible in two years.

Principle: 2.5.1 Timely feedback from the instructor to learners is crucial to the success of any teaching and learning event. Electronic communication technologies can be used as tools for providing feedback.

I think prompt feedback is one of the keys to the success of any online or eLearning event especially for courses that are asynchronous. Without the ability to speak to the instructor/facilitator during a class session, this is the only way to let the students know how they are doing. The feedback also needs to be constructive. For online and eLearning courses, this means the feedback must be thorough and easily understood by the student receiving it. Providing detailed feedback on an individual basis to the online students may take more time than feedback an instructor would provide in a classroom setting. The instructor/facilitator may want to look for communication methods (blog, special section of the website, audio, screen captures, etc.) that will allow them to point out/describe/demonstrate common errors made by the participants. This would then reduce the amount of individualized feedback they need to write.

Anne Gossett