Jane Leight

Suzanne, It seems that your online web course would be quite dynamic. Your use of both synchronous and asynchronous activities would make the class both interesting and productive. Since your students many be geographically dispersed, how would you handle time differences for synchronous assignments? I am curious about your expectation that the course should be "technology rich." In my experience, many students do not have home computers or broadband Internet connections. Would these be requirements for your course? :) Jane

Do you think that it is possible for online programs to foster teamwork? If so, what methods could be used? :) Jane

Suzanne, You bring up an excellent point that education requires effort; especially online education. Self-motivated people are definately more successful as online students. Do you think that online education is more acceptible among employers than it was 5 years ago? I am interested in your thoughts. Thanks, Jane

Hi Debi... Isn't it funny how students first resist change and eventually embrace it? I suppose that happens with all of us. Do you think that synchronous learning environments work for everyone? If not, what type of student (or what type of course) would not work well with this methodology? I am interested in your thoughts :) Jane

Lillian, Your response shows that online education has made significant headway in education as well as business. Well, almost. I noticed that you would still want to check out the course that was taken. Would you also do that for the applicant who attended a "traditional" college? Just curious :) Jane

Lillian, You are absolutely correct about getting feedback from students. I couldn't agree more! One of the things I have noticed about the online courses I teach. Online synchronous discussion becomes like no discussion you get in the classroom. It seems that, when students have time to take in the question and research it, the quality of the responses you see is much higher than. The downfall, however, is that the back-and-forth banter of the live classroom is lost a bit; but not always. I have seen some pretty involved threads. :) Thanks for your comments, Jane

Audio, graphics, and three dimensional views are great additions to an online presentation. They tend to bring the lecture "alive". How would you change you assessment methods when your course goes online? Will you continue with your current methods and adopt them to the online environment, or would you change the way you determine that students are learning in your course? :) Jane

You bring up a good point about the sociability of the traditional classroom. The sociability factor is one of the main problems I have with home schooling and online education for young children. There are many reasons why students choose to take online classes. Perhaps they live far from a college; or maybe they work full time and can't attend traditional classes; etc. Can you think of any qualities that the online student might possess that would make them desirable job candidates? I am interested in your thoughts :) Jane

You sound like an experienced teacher! I agree with you...chat sessions can get off track very quickly. I like that students can put some thought into what they're going to say before they put it in writing. If only I could get them to proofread what they write before posting. :) Can you think of an appropriate use of live chat for your web students? Could they benefit from a live session where you demonstrate a technique or show them sample web applications? Thanks for your input! Jane

The Maxknowledge course is certainly a good example of an online course, although its purpose is a bit different than typical college courses. Are you thinking of teaching online or developing an online course? If so, I hope this course has given you some good ideas :) Jane