A Consumer's Guide to Online Courses - electronic learning

School Administrator, Oct, 2001 by Sheldon H. Berman, Elizabeth Pape

What you need to know before allowing your students to enter virtual classrooms

Five years ago, when the Hudson Public Schools near Boston and the Concord Consortium launched the Virtual High School with the support of a U.S. Department of Education grant, we were sailing into uncharted waters in the K- 12 environment.

Today the number of virtual schools and virtual courses on the precollegiate level has increased markedly. Not only have school districts collaborated to create their own virtual schools, but corporations and states have entered the arena with their versions of e-learning, targeted to particular audiences and using a variety of online instructional approaches.

Online courses have the potential to significantly enrich a school's curriculum, provide students with a technology-rich learning experience and enable them to learn from students in other states and countries. However, virtual learning and teaching differ significantly from face-to-face teaching and learning and need to be assessed differently.

Virtual education programs are also substantially different from school programs in that the medium itself requires a unique support structure. Just as in any curricular area, there are excellent online programs and weak online programs. For an administrator unfamiliar with assessing virtual environments, selecting a program presents a dilemma. What criteria should an administrator use to compare programs? What essential questions should be asked to identify potential strengths and weaknesses?

Probing Questions

With five years of experience in creating and delivering online instruction, enriched by knowledge gleaned from rigorous yearly program evaluations completed by an independent evaluator, we have identified those key questions an administrator needs to ask to assess the quality of an online instructional program. By asking these questions, you can determine whether a prospective online program will provide the kind of quality instruction and online support system that will enhance your curriculum and serve your students well.

* Question 1: Can you see what your students are going to get?

Working in an online environment does not mean there should be any mystery to what a student is expected to learn and how the student will be assessed. As with any quality course, an online course needs to have a detailed course description and accessible syllabus, a description of learning objectives, a clear listing of student assignments and requirements and a well-delineated framework for assessing student work.

Because the medium requires a higher level of self-discipline and individual initiative than face-to-face courses, there also should be a way for students to assess whether they will be able to be effective in this instructional medium. This can be done through a simple questionnaire or, more effectively, a sample online learning experience.

* Question 2: What is the instructional design?

Online courses can be designed very differently. Some are self-paced. The student proceeds at his or her own schedule with some guidance from an instructor. This model requires a high degree of self-discipline as well as independent study habits on the part of the student. It is also a more isolated experience in that there is less likelihood that students will work together on projects or even be able to discuss assignments.

Alternatively, other online courses are designed around a set schedule and calendar. This provides structure and timelines for students and more easily fits with a normal school calendar. Student completion rates tend to be much higher in scheduled courses than is usually the case with self-paced courses.

Another design feature is whether the course is synchronous, in which all students must be online at the same time, or asynchronous, in which students can enter a threaded discussion, complete an assignment or ask a question at any time during the day or week. Although synchronous courses can have the feel of a face-to-face classroom at those times when students gather online to hear a presentation or discuss a reading, they are challenging to schedule and often allow for only limited student participation.

Asynchronous courses, on the other hand, enable students across the globe to participate in a course. In addition, because a student can read the responses of others and take the time to think through his or her answers, asynchronous courses provide the potential for more thoughtful participation, especially on the part of those who may not respond well to the rapid-fire exchange of a face-to-face classroom.

Because most schools work with structured grading schedules, we believe that scheduled, asynchronous courses best match the demands of a high school setting.

Gauging Instruction

* Question 3: What is the instructional methodology? How effective is the communication between teacher and student and student and student?

Many online courses, especially at the university level, have made poor use of the medium. Courses that simply post the teacher's lecture notes, readings and assignments online do not realize the potential of the medium and often fail to engage students.