Instructional Design and Development provides professional, collaborative assistance to faculty planning to teach an online or hybrid course and to departments planning for an online program.

See also Designing an Online Course.
See also Structuring Discussion.

Strategies and Resources

• Create a learning community - design some assignments that encourage students to "mingle" - provide a social discussion forum where they can share job opportunities or post events.
• Encourage student participation: build-in student-led discussions, peer review, and student sharing of resources.
• Discussion is the heart of the online learning environment; create questions that encourage student analysis and discussion; "Facilitate, don't dominate."
• Teach students how to be good online students - provide netiquette rules and clear expectations for student behavior in discussion forums.
• Expect to wear multiple hats in the online course - the instructor is the point person representing the entire university; be ready to direct them to university resources.
• Set aside regular time to check email and discussion forums - online courses provide more one-on-one contact between student and teacher - and this means more time on the part of the faculty member.
• Set expectations for contact early and clearly. If you will be out of email contact for a few days tell your students ahead of time.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate. Respond to email as soon as possible - even if to say, I'll get back to you later.
• Provide students with grading rubrics - students cannot ask a simple clarifying question as they would during face-to-face class time, be very clear about assignment expectations, due dates, and grading to reduce confusion and unnecessary anxiety.
• Provide feedback regularly; publicly compliment people for exceptionally good discussion posts (individually email those who are seriously off track)

Additional Readings and Resources

Anderson, T., L. Rourke, R. Garrison, and W. Archer. Assessing teacher presence in a computer conferencing context. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 5(2): 1-17, 2001.

Curtis, D. and M. Lawson. Exploring collaborative online learning. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 5(1): 21-34, 2001.

Macdonald, J. and P. Twining. Assessing activity-based learning for a networked course. British Journal of Educational Technology 33(5): 603-618, 2002.

Morse, K. Does one size fit all? Exploring asynchronous learning in a multicultural environment. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 7(1): 37-56, 2003.

Salmon, G. Mirror, mirror, on my screen: Exploring online reflections. British Journal of Educational Technology 33(4): 379-391, 2002.

Tallent-Runnels, M. K., Thomas, J.A., Lan, W.Y. Cooper, S., et al. (2006). Teaching Courses Online: A Review of the Research. Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 93-125. Wilson Education Abstracts database. (Document ID: 1132445571).

Instructional Design and Development

• Consultation and resources on developing online, hybrid, or web-enhanced courses
• Design and development of learning activities enriched by technology
• Resources on developing multimedia curriculum resources