I disagree that the development of online courses take less time than that of traditional classroom delivery. It is much less time consuming to develop the on-the ground class.
In most cases the instructor could just show up in the classroom with the text book and basic syllabus. Students could open their books and follow along using the information presented in the chapters as a guide. Written notes can be made or the lectures taped with an audio recorder.
Online courses take much more time to develop the powerpoint lectures. Online learning environments may have 'ungraded learning events' like lectures and live chats that may not be attended or watched by students. This is because they do not receive points for attendance or participation. The instructor must take more time to restate and explain material already presented but not watched by the student.
The instructor should ask the following question: Is this material going to be learned by the student if the learning event is ungraded?
kalysa,
We do want our content to be understood in the written form and sometimes you have to rewrite several times.
Shelly Crider
Ricardo,
Good point on reading students reactions.....you might want to add non-reaction as well!
Shelly Crider
James,
Nice point as students tend to skip work that is not graded!
Shelly Crider
I disagree because the online environment is a constantly moving target and very fast paced. It is up to the instructor to manage student engagement and track abilities during a course.
I disagree. Both are equally time consuming as they both must cover the same content. One may spend more time with the online delivery as the student in a traditional classroom will have the ability to ask real-time questions versus those in an online environment.
I think online and on ground course development differs greatly. Most brick and mortar schools allow instructor input into the syllabus and course material. In online classrooms, the instructors don't usually develop the course but facilitate them. I have had a hand in developing courses along with instructional designers and I find that creating an online course has different challenges and it is much more time consuming. This is due to the fact that you cannot correct or clarify in real time with students. Everything from the navigation of the course to the supplemental materials must be presented in a way that will make sense to the student. The course designer has to deal with design elements and must go through menus and processes to attach and add quizzes and videos and other elements. You have to randomize and create quiz pools and go the extra mile because online courses are not always swapped out after one term. What you make needs to last for awhile. The design elements must be uniform and the designer must be keen to bold and bullet and use large font in a uniform manner throughout the course shell. Everything must be set up so the entire class makes sense from week one to the last week. It is very different from being in front of class where you can emphasize materials and explain and ask questions as you go. The course writers must anticipate roadblocks and issues. Thus most courses go into a "sandbox" where other instructors or the writing team can go in and look over the material and anticipate and fix issues. Furthermore, putting materials into a course from the web has copyright issues that are different than copyright usage for an individual teacher instructing face-to-face. I think preparing an online course is much more time consuming than on ground.
Nikki,
A good class takes time to create...online or face to face.
Shelly Crider
Tanya,
I like the fact that you are going the extra mile. With an online course, you will need to check and recheck your links.
Shelly Crider
Hi Patrick,
I agree about being IT savvy. There are a lot of things to learn about a platform in order to get the course to work the way you want it to. In a college I worked for most of the staff had no idea how to move around the platform and even the IT person couldn't help me with issues. I had to watch You Tube videos to figure it out. lol!
Best,
Tanya
Hi Geerte,
I agree. It always seems once I had a course all figured out my old college would decide to go with a new platform or downgrade the one we had. We were always in a cycle of trying something new and that make course development difficult.
Best,
Tanya
Actually I think it takes a bit more time to develop an online course versus developing the same course for standard delivery. You can rely on your interaction in a face to face classroom, the puzzled look on a students face that lets you know you need to go back and redo something. Online we have to anticipate that in the lesson and then break it down so that your student is not a home with the puzzled look and no one to help them. That process alone I believes builds in time on online developments that you don't think of when in the classroom.
Justice,
It is nice to have the extra time for the online class so that you can make sure everything is perfect!
Shelly Crider
Since I have developed both pnline and campus courses this is definitely not true. The content, labs, and books take just as much time and sometimes even more because you have to make sure that online courses are as "real" as any item found in a classroom.
Shelly-
I do not agree with this statement. I actually feel that it would be about the same if not more as you are relaying a message through the use of technology, which not everyone is comfortable with or knowledgeable of. Therefore, this can cause some discrepancies in the learning process and would the need to be proactive when developing coursework.
This is just an assumption of course, being that I have never taught within a traditional classroom.
Furthermore, you must develop an online course that keeps the students engaged and not falling off due to the lack of activity or requirements or motivation.
Leti Ramirez
Leti ,
Not just an exciting class, but one where an instructor is fully engaged as well.
Shelly Crider
I think that it would take more time to develop the online course. In an in person class, you will be delivering a lot of information on the fly. But you have to have it all written out word for word in the online environment. Taking the time so that everything will hyperlink properly and will look graphically appealing is a lot of work beyond just the content.
Ms. Crider
I disagree with the statement “The time invested to develop a quality online course is less than the time required to develop the same course for a traditional classroom deliveryâ€.
Course development requires a syllabi, lectures, ancillary material, assignments and quizzes. Each of these components should be present for online and on-ground classes.
Debra
Kathy,
I like when we take the time as students will always find the errors!
Shelly Crider
Debra,
A good class is well thought out and developed....online and traditional.
Shelly Crider
