Should more than one synchronous chats be offered to accommodate students in various parts of the world?

How crucial is it to structure an online course to parallel the required text?

I am not much of a computer person - am 60 years old! Nonetheless, I am starting to become fascinated with what it would take for an on-line course to be truly fascinating to the student. I do think that seeing the instructor talking will make a higher quality of connectioni - rather than just seeing text or even hearing a voice with no significant visual. What technology do you all recommend for a novice to come up with video-lectures that could work well? Also what do you now about video-emails? I may be jumping the gun re media (Topic 4) - but I'm curious already. David Lauterstein

How do institutions ensure that the students they enroll are prepared to take an on-line course?

Many students move to the online environment because their lives dictate that they cannot be in class at a particular time. Do you feel chats are realistically possible when you are trying to accommodate a time that will work for 10-25 differently scheduled people?

For myself, I have honed my ability to speak in a group setting by practice, practice, practice. I have studied co-workers, teachers, and other students for tips on how to present myself. I have had teachers who told me to stand up straighter, smile, speak louder. I could see my instructor's face giving me encouragement. I do this for my on the ground students, and the results are amazing. How can you accomplish this in an online setting?

We all just completed the first quiz. The first presentation was clear and multi-sensory. But, I wonder how you show your passion. Do you see areas in online education where you will be able to incorporate your personality, humor, personal excitement in the online classroom?

I'm not sure how I feel about this... To me, it makes more sense for students to know they have to study the material to be able to pass a quiz. Not jsut keep guessing until they get a 100. I feel as though a compromise should be made. Maybe students should have multiple tries, but they should be limited, to maybe 3 or something.

As an Instructor, I find group projects particularly difficult. Many times, one or two students within the group take on a majority, if not all of the work. How do we assess the comprehension & contribution of individual students? Assigning a single grade for each of the group members does not seem fair nor is it reflective of individual student ability. Will mandatory chat sessions resolve this issue? Is that enough?

As an instructor one of the problems I encounter is students not interacting together appropriately in group projects in a traditional classroom. Students miss the concept of working as a group in a classroom setting. On-line courses force students to interact within a group to accomplish the project. You will have students who in a regular classroom setting would not be forth coming with ideas and interact, because they feel dominated by students who are more vocal. Discussion boards give students an even playing field when presenting their ideas for the project and discussing with their groups.

With the abilities we have in technology it seems to be easy to get carried away. What is the best way to avoid overplay with our graphics?

I believe it is important to come up with a way to do online exams and protect the integrity of those exams without having to set up additional time and space for a proctor. Employers are starting to see more fraudulant degrees. When teaching online courses acrossed the nation this would be quite difficult as well as costly. Any ideas?

I bleieve the ability to have chat rooms is great. The ability to have synchronous and asynchronous I also think is great. However, is it appropriate for students to actually critique each other? Isn't the idea of the chat room to be inovative and pull from everyone else's knowledge and way of thinking? Isn't it more the job of an instructor to critique? By deffinition it is the act or art of criticizing. Any comments?

Does it matter where your education came from? On-line courses are fairly new and I don't think the typical hiring manager may be very aware of the ability and additional retention one can gain with the navigational simplicity. Traditional learning can be very restrictive. Isn't it true that most will hire the most experienced and possitive canditate if they have several with the educational requirements and diplomas? What do you think?

Evaluation plays a key role in the design process. For those of you that developed online classes, what types of formative evaluations have you used?

I am beginning to build on-line coursework and have great concerns regarding exam integrity. Does anyone have any suggestions in this area? I did read one forum suggestion which indicated online work leading to in-class examination. I am curious as to other suggestions for protecting integrity.

Hello All, How effective can elearning be, for students of career colleges that use expensive or highly specialized equipment? Are the benefits of time-shifting, robust media, etc. outweighed by the necessity to be on location to use labs? I'm of the mind that online course loads for these programs could be great supplementary material for the in-class sessions, but will probably not be used to replace or substitute actually class time. Comments anyone?

In the learning environment of teaching career students computer skills, I have to follow a syllabus with the regards to the topic to be discussed and give assignments to students. I have made students of the Medical Assisting, Business Office Pharmacy technicians, Medical Billing, e-mail me their assignments and projects and sometimes I would ask them questions so they would discuss what they have submitted on-line. Students would not respond. I think with this information it would be a good time to suggest for curriculum changes to include on-line participationg. These students when they start working in their fields, they will have to be activity involved with on-line discussion. I think it would be a gradual process in introducing students to this. I think those who are not so good with writing will probably be inhibited, but it would be a good practice. What do you think about this?

In today's marketplace, more and more schools are offering online coursework. The standards that were set in an in-class setting are being met and even exceeded using online formats. Hiring of most employees is done by meeting a specific qualification and then interviewing qualified candidates to see if they: 1. Possess the knowledge they claim; 2. Fit the personality of the office; 3. Bring a positive attitude. 4. etc. Therefore, having the degree is more important than where it was obtained. Therefore, I would hire the candidate that best fits with my current employees and the needs of the position.

In this module, you have been introduced to the benefits of creating a Course Design Specification. Assume that you are outsourcing course development to a company that develops online courses. In what ways would a Course Design Specification benefit you as well as the person the vendor has assigned to manage the development of your courses?