FSI 2000 - Online Learning: An Overview

Consider These Issues About Online Instruction:

Instructors are Enthusiastic?
Instructors are Better Teachers?
Computer Technology Works?
Requires Less Time?
Students Learn on a Computer?
A Poor Medium?
Talking Differently?

Making the Virtual Classroom a Reality

An Online Course in a Nutshell
Key Elements of an Online Program
The Successful Online Student
The Virtual Professor
Strengths and Weaknesses of Online Learning

Sample Online Courses:

Principles of Marketing (University of Maine)
Principles of Macroeconomics (Rock Valley College)
Communicating Through the Internet (UIS)
English Composition 1 (Illinois Valley College)
Marketing Principles (Waukesha College)
Business Law (Fayetteville Tech. College)

Activity

Visit an online course and assess how well it is adapted to the Internet and promotes active learning in a student centered collaborative environment.

Discussion Questions

The discussion questions provided are meant to provide you with ideas to think about as you begin to design and develop your online courses.

Related Resources

The Virtual Professor: A Personal Case Study
by Greg Kearsley

Distance Learning: A Faculty FAQ
By Judith Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad

Extending the Classroom Walls Electronically
By Tom Creed

A Guide to Online Education
By Greg Kearsley

The World Wide Web: a Technology to Enhance Teaching and Learning?
By Ronald Owston

No Significant Difference Phenomenon
By Thomas Russell
A compilation of 248 research publications finding little or no difference in the effectiveness of classroom vs distance education.

Facilitating Interaction in Computer Mediated Online Courses
By Mauri Collins and Zane Berge
This article contains a description of students and teachers' roles in the online model.

Why the Web?
By Karen Schlegel

Teaching in a Virtual Classroom<
By Starr Roxanne Hiltz and Murry Turoff

Digital Diploma Mills
By David Noble

Online Learning: An Overview
An ION Web-based Resource

Online Learning: An Overview
An Online Course for Educators offered
Created by Jennifer Lieberman for ION

University of Illinois
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
363 Henry Administration Building
506 South Wright Street
Urbana, Illinois 61801-3620