Online Instructors are Lazy and Make Students Teach Themselves (False Assumptions Series, #1)

There are many false assumptions abut online learning and the purpose of this blog series is to clear them up. My caveat is that these assumptions are only false when the online teacher is trained* to teach effectively in the online environment. One of the most dangerous assumptions is that a good classroom teacher will be a good online teacher. I believe this to be true with proper training, but without it, classroom teachers often fall short and it's the students who suffer most.

The assumption that instructors are lazy and make students teach themselves probably comes from experiences unfortunate students had with untrained teachers. Some untrained instructors think that to teach an online course you simply need to post readings, PowerPoint slides, quizzes and assignments, assign due dates and grade. This sounds like a face-to-face class without the classroom component. I could certainly see how a student in such a course would feel as if the instructor were absent and she is teaching herself.

So what's missing? The student may say that the teacher isn't teaching anything, which is sort of true. But that's not due to the fact that classroom component is missing. There are many highly successful online courses being offered and none of them involve physical presence. So again we ask, what's missing?

1. Clarification on content
2. Timely feedback on demonstrated performance and understanding 
3. Spontaneous activities and explanations
4. Interaction with the instructor and classmates
5. Student-driven discussion and Q&A
6. A sense of community and humanity

If an online instructor could find a way to incorporate these elements into his course, I am confident that his students would be satisfied with the instruction, support and engagement they experience. And it is certainly possible!

Am I missing any elements? Or do you have a different opinion? Please share your thoughts.

*I do not wish to discount or belittle self-trained instructors. I simply want to emphasize that learning the strategies and techniques for teaching online often leads to success, whereas instructors who do not learn and apply best practices often fall short, even if their intentions are good and their classroom teaching skills are noteworthy.

How to Proceed with Developing a New Online Course from Scratch (in 4 easy steps)

Recently, an instructor asked me for a brief outline of how to proceed with designing and developing an online course from scratch. Here was my advice:

To give a really general outline, here is how I would proceed:
1.    Review the course objectives/student outcomes
2.    Determine what topics need to be covered and in what order to meet those objectives
3.    From there, create an outline covering 16 weeks (or however long your course will be) and then fill the info in week by week. What outcomes are met each week? (Write those down) Then what assessments will you assign to show that the students have met the student outcomes? Finally, what activities will the students need to complete in order to succeed in the assessments?
4.    Build the assessments, rubrics and activities

Do not simply go by the book because often times the topics emphasized by the text books are not the ones that best meet the outcomes, and some areas that the text glosses over are actually more important for your students to learn. Therefore, always use your course objectives and the outcomes assigned to each week as your guide.

I hope this helps!