You may be a teacher looking for alternative ways to use your professional talents. Perhaps you have already been an online instructor for a course that can be improved. Perhaps you are looking for a new challenge to expand your experiences, or do you hope to continue teaching / developing online courses that will allow you to work more flexibly? Whatever your reasons, the development of online courses raises many questions, such as:
o What will my students use as a textbook?
o What other resources will I use to complete the manual?
o How will the student obtain information about the beginning of the course?
o How can I make the online experience “user-friendly for students”?
o Where in the learning management system will students have access to obtaining and submitting work?
o How will the student be noted?
o How will the student access his notes?
o Will the student be able to see his or her overall progress?
o How will the student communicate with the instructor?
o How will students communicate with each other?
o What deadlines does the student need to know?
As a course developer, online instructor, and former graduate student, I have several practical suggestions and tips for successful online course development.
o Remember that the three most important parts of teaching in face-to-face and virtual environments are:
1. communicate
2. communicate
3. communicate
o Therefore, you want to establish friendly matching methods for students. A discussion forum that allows you to post current tips and deadlines will be helpful for you and the student.
o Include a “Get Started” navigation button where students can find all the information needed to continue the course.
o If the course has regular deadlines, indicate a deadline that students can print.
o If a course does not have regular deadlines but only a deadline, indicate a schedule so that the student can stay up to date with the course.
o Include a navigation button containing all the information necessary for the success of the course, including where to access the work, submitting assignments, deadlines, how to contact the instructor and other students, where to find notes, textbook information / text, how to contact the service (s) of assistance and any other information likely, according to you, to improve the experience of the student.
o The research manuals you can use for the course. If there is an online manual that would be a good choice for the course, use it! This can make the online experience much easier for students (they can easily access their work online) and for the teacher (many online texts also provide environments for course management such as display homework and notes).