Amy,
I love your word evloving! It is so true!
Shelly Crider
While both can take considerable time, the online environment is ever evolving, and what works today is obsolete tomorrow.Technology plays a huge part in the way the course must be written, presented, and implemented.The QA testing and updating alone can take chunks of time that traditional courses don't need to consider.
Allinda,
Really depends on the class itself. A more technical class may need more time to develop.
Shelly Crider
I assume that the time required is proportional to the instructor's expertise in computers and tools available to create an Online Course. Then, you also have to take into consideration your experience putting together a traditional classroom course.
I think I will have to disagree. I don't see where the time to develop a quality course will be significantly different whether you're developing it for online or the traditional classroom. I can see where some apsects of one format or the other may take a little more or less time but the overall development time, I think, will not be that different.
The time invested in an online course should far exceed the time to prepare for a live course. In an online enviroment you must prepare many more visuals to stimulate the students, and your live chat sessions must be packed with information as they are limited in time as compared to live classrooms.
Disagree.
Actually it should take longer to get ready for an online course.
You have to make sure you have a good internet connection, clear sounding microphone, to me better power point slides, etc.
A lot of items that you can do on ground must be converted to some type of media for the students learning.
Although I feel it takes longer I would much rather teach online than in an onground classroom.
Deborah,
Nice touch on teaching with technology. This is the biggest key in developing an online class. You have to take in to account your client. Will they all be on the same level, ect.
Shelly Crider
The time invested for a "quality" online course should definitely be more. Students who take these courses should be able to receive quality instruction. Quality instruction takes time and effort. Add a technological component and the instructor has yet another level of engagement that he/she must facilitate with excellence. Teaching with technology is both stimulating and challenging but it takes time to master as any other academic tool.
Disagree---it will be at least the same (and in many cases longer) than a traditional class.
Dave Rakowski
I disagree partly. The initial set up is longer on an on-line course. You have to have grade catergories, assignments posted, Exams created and posted, put up questions for the discussion boards,post additional support docs, etc. Once it is complete, then it takes little time to copy one class over to the next class.
Disagree. After 15 years of teaching, developing and supervising online programs, my experiance is it takes much longer to develop and execute an online course. Several years ago it was abput 8 hours to develop online for every hour to develop live courses. Technology has progressed to the point that many functions are now automated or built into the Learning Management System. Our online classes now take about 4 hours to 1 hour for live. Although we use the same lesson plans for both types of delivery, online instruction requires hours of courseware development. Voice over alone is very time consuming. This does not take into account the actual execution of the course. our classes must be SCORM compliant which further increases development time by requiring testing of the material.
Michael,
We teach our students "attention to detail", we should follow.
Shelly Crider
I disagree. I think that developing online content takes more time and more attention to detail. This is primarily because as an instructor you must plan for unexptected questions and learning opportunities that you can adapt to "on the fly" in the live classroom environment. As such, you often have to spend more time preparing for the "what if" scenario and making sure that everything is much more concisely explained since much of the learning will be done asynchronous without the ability of the students to generate immediate feedback and ask prompt questions.
Maureen,
oh so true! I have had so many students complete their discussion question in "text" writing!
Shelly Crider
I could not agree with this comment more. I often have to inform students that complacency in errors are bad habits that can lead to 'grave errors'
Example, incorrectly spelt drug names(i.e.look-a-like, sound-a-like)
Some students believe they should be (encouraged) given full points for wrong spelling.
To develop a quality online course is time consuming; however, it is very practical. Many are benefited from this process to gain their education.
Jeff,
Good point! Where is the expert getting the info and is it being properly cited?
Shelly Crider
In todays world of information @ your finger tips I think content plays less of an issue than it did 15 -20 years ago. The major issues are copywright problems and the area of expertise of the person putting the course together. If your area is criminal justice and your trying to put together a Microsoft word presentation you might have to find an expert to help you.
Jeff,
Do you think the class content plays a part, for instance, would a Microsoft Office Word be as hard to put together as a Intro to Criminal Justice?
Shelly Crider
