I'm neither "fish nor fowl" as I am both an online and on-ground instructor as well as a program director and director for online education. By the various hats I wear I had no choice but to functionally master the technology that delivers online content [wikis, chats, forums, Adobe products like Connect Pro, Presenter, Captivate, Photoshop, etc] along with video editing software [Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas Platinum, etc, etc]
But to the point of the question, it greatly depends on the resources of the institution, and surprisingly the faculty are more knowledgeable about the software and needs than the traditional "IT Pro." I've gone out of my way to build bridges with our IT dept [lunches, Wii games, snacks, meetings, etc] and that has paid off BIG TIME because it creates a forum where they want to not only see what I'm doing online, but also what I'd like to do in the future, where they are the experts and can offer and feel invested in the process.
Good question, convoluted answer. ;)
Agree, however the more expertise one has with Office products the easier it will be. This is especially true of Powerpt. online class presentations.
I agree that developers do not need to be technological wizards. But it helps.
One has to have a solid knowledge of the "Office Suite", what is Web Access, what is a Web page, etc...
I agree. However, the more expertise the better the presentation of the course. I teach web design and I always tell students to get content defined and structure (what goes on what page etc) before worrying about design, colors, animation etc.
I do feel that some level of expertise would be needed to be able to easily maintain/update/change site content, unless you have IT who can do it for you.
Great point George - Thanks, Jon
Anthony,
Good points, it really depends on what you are trying to create, and how much support you have.
Thanks,
Jon
Tanya,
I agree - it really helps if an institution has an administrator or instructional designer that can think through many of the design elements and create templates that are easy for subsequent developers to follow.
Thanks,
Jon
Hello Dr. Outland. I agree that it is not necessary to be a technology expert in order to develop an effective onliine course. An appropriate understanding of media strategies is necessary to support and enhance an understanding of the content and desired outcomes, but one need not be an expert in all areas.
It is hard to say, the on-line class must be user friendly as well and "eye" catching to the user. I believe a little of both will be needed.
I believe that the initial developer must be a technological wizard but after that it depends on the classroom topic. In a basic mathematics course then there would not be much need for thechnological wizardry. A webdesign or database design course would be far more interesting with a little magic!
Well it depends on what your definition of a technology wizard implies. They definitely have to be comfortable with using technology and depending on what type of web and multimedia support they have may need some advanced skills. Even using precreated templates require technology ability that may be more advanced than the average traditional teacher may possess.
Still surprised to see questions that were not discussed in the content... such as storyboarding and copyright. I was also very surprised that the I of the ADDIE model was ignored. Implementation is just as critical within ISD and the other elements. Even if you plan it as part of a pilot. I also disagree that ISD is not linear. Yes, you can jump out of the line and go back but you must them revisit the linear elements that are impacted by any change.
Dr. Jeannette K. Jones, RCC
I disagree. I think you have to be willing to try new things, willing to think outside the box of your classroom, and willing to learn.
A good online course can actually contain much of what you are doing in the classroom (technology wise) but you just have to plan in advance and allow yourself some creativity. You do not need to have the flash animations (a matter of fact this is the fist MaxKnowledge course that I have taken that has as many and I hate to say, "I don't like") but must present knowledge in a way the student can learn.
-Chris
I agree, we should be aware of some of the new techniques and programs that are included in some online courses; if we ask a student to prepare a power point presentation and know how to upload its content, then we should know how to do that, too. But I do not have the time to learn a whole new way of "teaching" in the sense of beinga programmer, and would rather work with someone who does know how to take my lesson plans, projects, etc., and put them into an online course. As instructors we have plenty to do, and sometimes we find that we have less time in the classroom because we are being thrown even more "things to do" and learning how to program computers is not on my to-do list.
If I am an instructor who is looking to put together an online course, I would hire someone to pull it together. I am not an expert on Html, flash, and all of the other necessities for websites and I am sure there are other programs one must know in order to create something for online. As a teacher I supply the information, the course material, the quizzes and tests, assignments, etc., but I should not have to worry about "how to" make an online course, that is setting it up online. That is for the experts, technicians who do this kind of stuff all the time. I would work closely with someone who has already done some of these courses online to make sure my information is conveyed properly. But I do not have to get involved in the nitty gritty of the creation process. It's not what I do.
I guess if your teaching a class on technology being a tech wizard would be advantageous. Other than that, not necessary. It takes as much expertise as necessary to get the job done-nothing more, nothing less.
I agree that to design a course we don’t need to be a tech wizard – in fact for most of the courses I have developed I simply develop the content and the content is uploaded and processed appropriately by course designers skilled in the tech side of course development. For the courses I have done all the work on before acting as a designer I completed a training course first to show me how to upload content, format correctly etc.
I agree to a point. A course without much multimedia in it probably doesn't need a technical wizard. At the same time, a high end simulation or game would require some technical expertise or at a minimum knowledge on how to leverage the necessary technical tools out there.
It is - training helps! - Jon
Monica,
I agree, subject matter first!
Jon
I think that a rudimentary knowledge and comfort level with the technology is needed.
