I belive that it depends on several things. 1. how many times have you developed an online or triditional class. 2. How much are you putting in the class & how detailed is it? 3. do you have help in designing it. A person can spend as much or as little time as they want developing either of these two types of courses. But I also belive that the development of classes is where we make or break the course.
Barry,
nice work....be sure to double check your links. I had a link once that was sold to a porn site!!!
Shelly Crider
Hi Shelly!
Thanks so much for your valuable feedback! :)
Barry,
Good example on learning a computer program....nice job!
Shelly Crider
Barry,
You are so corrrect Barry! A good online course will have the student working all the time!
Shelly Crider
Yasmine,
you are right on the mark!
Shelly Crider
So the way to prevent this from happening is provide the link code to the exact and specific page you're interested in rather than the root domain.
So the exact and specific link code to page of interest might look something:
http://www.goodstuff.com/onlinelearning/teaching/goodies123.html
but if you just provide link as the root domain:
http://www.goodstuff.com
well who knows what you're going to get!
The other main feature of a good OnLine Course is that it is immediately updatable to include new ideas, changes in concepts or the latest technical advances in the subject area.
Learning a computer program online is a perfect example of the best way to learn. Popular computer application programs are constantly updated to incorporate new features, depreciate old workflow methods, and accommodate new computer operating system updates.
An OnLine Course can be constantly updated to stay current and that adds an intrinsic value over regular classroom courses.
Of course the time spent learning from an OnLine Course is worth it! If I had this when I went to college years ago, it wouldn't have taken me five years to get two degrees--even though I worked full time at a night job on aerospace.
The amount of time invested to develop a quality online course should be just as extensive, if not more, than the amount of time invested to develop a traditional classroom course. Not investing a thorough amount of time to develop an online course could have unfavorable results.
The intricacies involved with the structural design of lessons and implementations of the simplicity of navigation through the online course are just a couple of several aspects that calls for careful detail. The more time dedicated towards the development of an online course will ultimately lead to a dynamic end result.
Barry,
I am sure the students enjoy the resources. I find that is what many students say they are missing.
Shelly Crider
Twice to three times as much time!
I build and maintain my own huge Web site with over 3,000 pages of content--mostly it serves as an archive for my magazine articles.
I can tell you that it usually takes me about twice the time to make it into a Web page that it took me to write it originally. And that is even using all the (html, javascripts, perl cgi-bin) templates I've created.
Without an actual (human) editor for a lot of it, I find myself constantly correcting coding errors, updating the content, and fixing grammatical errors etc.
Christopher,
Good point...if the instructor is familiar with the task and how it works, the students will feel more at ease as well.
Shelly Crider
I think the initially investment in putting a course together can be challenging on-line or in an on-ground environment depending on the skills of the instructor, the subject itself and how creative the instructor is in planning the course. Once the initial plan is established, it should get easier but there are still challenges based on the instructor’s and student’s education, skills and abilities. The bottom-line is the difficulty of the task is directly related to the skills of the instructor.
Krystal,
I would like to think that as instructors, we do take the time and review the information was want students to learn...online or face to face.
I disagree with the statement because the same amount of time and effort should be given to each. Although the delivery method of the information is different, the information itself and objectives should be the same. There is actually more effort needed because you must take into account the personal aspects that will be involved. Not every student is comfortable in online settings so you have to be considerate of the transition period. You must also be aware of your tone when posting in the virtual campus area. Since the students don’t see you and haven’t had a chance to get a “feel†for you, it’s important to review your comments and information to hope that it’s not offensive or rude. Some students already assume that all professors want to see them fail so any small comment can be taken the wrong way. Since you have to take into account these extra factors, more effort needs to be given to prepare for online courses.
Hello,
I disagree with the statement that on-line course development time requirements seem usually less than the time requirements of an actual "Live" classroom course requirement.
I have taught both types of courses, and each requires a considerable time . . . at least for me. One exception . . . If I have a ready-to-go course in a classroom setting to adapt to on-line teaching, and if I am very familiar with the format of delivery, then it should go fairly quickly. Phil Finch
oh so true....getting students to ask question is very important whether online or traditional classroom.
I would have to disagree with this statement. The on-line course must be designed knowing what your students will ask, or should I say we need to develope our on-line courses as a mind reader. Traditional classroom delivery model has a face-to-face element where you can judge a level of understanding by non-verbal cues.
