Thanks, Wendi, for your comments. It is great that the different departments are experimenting with online teaching. Out of curiosity, for Admissions training, what type of activities or exercises were included in the online content for the Admissions course?
Jay Hollowell
EL101 Guest Facilitator
Our college system adopted a strategy that not only would Academic Affairs who designs our online learning use online teaching, but so would all other departments that did any type of training. Our technical department gave us 1-2 training sessions on our LMS, Leaning Management System, and we all took it from there. My technical skills are not along the lines of an IT staffer at all, but with a little training and some well placed questions, I created a system for Admissions Training that was the springboard for other departments. Good training and support is all that is needed to create your course.
I find that I have to know Microsoft Office, Adobe Captivate, and a simple Web Design builder and FTP site to at least produce the product to a small group of students. To expand the program to a larger group of students, I will have to learn about the LMS systems (someone recommended Modal). It is overwhelming the technical expertise that really goes into running an online progra.
I feel that you do not have to be a wizard to develop an online course, but I do feel that you should at least have knowledge and the abillity to navigate through programs.
Mark: I would have to agree.
Yes; John. It's a given that the Instructor must know the capabilities and limitations of the Course Delivery Platform; otherwise, the risk is there that he or she may come up with design concepts the Course Delivery Platform cannot support. Basic knowledge of Graphics Design concepts, and Multimedia applications will also enable the Instructor to widen their scope of design concepts. By all means, the more they know, the more they can assist in the preparation of the course content, thereby reducing the development cycle time.
Satrohan
I agree that the development of an online course does not require extensive knowledge of technology as long as sufficient technological support is available. However, I think the more familiar a teacher is with how the technology works, the easier and faster it will be to set up the course.
Himesh:
The team approach is the best approach to developing online courses; provided that it is feasible, especially in regards to funding. In that approach, your conclusion will hold well----educators focus on the design, content definition, writing the content, and reviews----programmers, graphics designers, multimedia developers focus on the development of the other course components.
Satrohan
A techonological wizard is a cold fusion programmer with oracle. An educator with technologocial know-how is an e-instructor. Since I believe I fall into that latter I do agree with Mr. Mangal's statement that we don't have to be wizards when it comes to creating/designing our online course. Yes there has to be some level of basic understanding in certain programs like word processing, spreadsheets and paintshops but with the development of new softwares we as educators can create with the imaginations of a 5 year old with a new box of crayons. I say leave the programming to the programmers and the educating to us!
Richard:
Yes; content expoerts are better off focusing on those aspects of learning ans leave the technological aspects of the display and delivery strategies to other members of the development team; not unless, the content expert is the development team. One person developing an online course will certainly take a very long time.
Satrohan
You do not have to be a wizard, but you have to know what is available. The more you approach the wizard class the better that your online class will be. There is more need to understand the learning process, the curriculum, the assessment process, the design and strategy, the need for learner guided motivation these and others will provide success beyond the flash of technological expertese. But if you want to wow the learner and keep them motivated, flash will keep their attention while you inspire them with rightest facilitation.
the internet is great for this, I agree
Roy:
I defer this question to other students to offer their recommendations.
I know that tools exist for creating quizzes.Test Manager is one name I recall. Remember to ensure that the tool you use is compatible with the quiz administration feature fo the Course Delivery Platform you will be using. You may want to conduct a search on the Internet for test item construction tools as well as those for animation.
Satrohan
Stephen:
Your argument is well supported. The designation "developer" was used to refer to the course author, the content expert or Subject-Matter-Expert who creates the instructional content. The developer does not create the end-user interface, graphics, multimedia components; netiher does he or she uplaod the content to the Course Delivery Platform. Other members of the development team perform those duties.
Satrohan
Surfiene:
I am assuming that you are referring to teaching the course. Content expertise is always a requirement for the course author.
Satrohan
I concur, it can go both ways; so you are not the only one that does have mixed feelings. I don't have a specific answer either, so.....
I agree with the idea that they do not have to know everything; however, some of the animation, quiz, and testing tools I have seen are more than I know how to make on my own. It would be great to have a tool set (like web site development tools) that could help instructors develop online course materials. Does anything like this exist?
It depends on your definition of a developer. If I want to develop an online course, and I hire you to create the web interface, then I probably only need enough knowledge to tell you what to create. But am I the developer or am I the guy who hired the developer? I say I am the developer. We already have the courses in our traditional campuses. We are just applying them online by using technology. In the same way that I don't need to know how a car works in order to get to McDonald's, I also don't need to know how an online quiz works as long as it works the way it should.
That is dependent on the type of course and the requiremens for the course. If the course is one covering multiumedia creation, then technical expertise is required at a higher level.
If a course is, say an English class then the need for technical expertise is a bit lower.
The need for technical expertise can be mitigated by the design of the course itself.
Carol:
I agree. As a minimum, instructors must have the technology background required to use the features of the course delivery platform to participate in and manage the learning activities. Stduents must be able to use those features relevant to completing the learning activities.
satrohan
