Ready, set, launch: if you've been looking for an action plan to launch your online courses, you've come to the right place. Just read, scan the checklists, and go - E-Learning Management

University Business, August, 2003 by Jerry Olivas

It seems like it's virtual everything nowadays, and leading the virtual charge is education. But how close is online ed to on-ground ed? In many ways, virtual education courses and traditional university courses are similar, but there are also quite a few differences. That means that before you get started offering online education, you need to have a clear understanding of what you will be doing differently--and precisely how you are going to do it.

Online vs. On-ground

Some institutions of higher ed, such as University of Phoenix Online, offer entire degree programs for both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Virtually all interactions, not just the teaching of classes, are handled online--the application for admission, registration for classes, guidance, and tuition payments. The student literally does everything online; there's no phone, no fax, and no mail either. In fact, the fully online program is becoming more and more common. But in some degree programs, such as Pepperdine University's (CA) Master of Arts in Educational Technology, most of the course work is done online, with a minor amount of work completed on-ground. Yet it is becoming popular to offer professional development and certificate-type programs completely online. Stanford University (CA) offers several of these through its Center for Professional Development.

In the meantime, the handling of admissions, registration, tuition payments, etc., online is certainly becoming customary at all universities. So whether the courses are online or on-ground, there's not much difference at that end. The real difference lies in how a course is taught. We know how on-ground courses go: teacher up front with students seated listening attentively and asking great questions (in an ideal world!). With most online courses, the curriculum and instruction is managed online, over the Internet. There are some exceptions--an on-ground meeting or two at the beginning of the online course, another meeting sometime in the middle, and perhaps another one or two at the end of the course. These meetings are held for a variety of reasons, including an introduction to the online environment, normal and special lecturers, and testing.

But primarily, what makes the online course different from the on-ground course is that the entire curriculum for the course is managed online, including all of the interaction with the teacher and other students. You might ask: Why can't an institution just move its on-ground course curriculum to the online initiative? And to a certain extent, this is possible: The course syllabus and handouts might need a little tweaking, but generally, there isn't too much that needs to be changed. Even papers, PowerPoint presentations, and assigned readings don't pose too much of a problem. But that's where the common use ends. Lectures must be developed or redesigned in a narrative form, and tests must be created purposely to be administered online. If teamwork is required, students need to know how, specifically, their projects will be conducted online.

Above all of this is perhaps the most important aspect of online courses: How the courses will be conducted. This includes such things as requirements for attendance and participation, all of which needs to be worked out in advance, and must be crystal clear to the online student. But don't forget the instructor! In teaching for the University of Phoenix Online, for instance, I electronically sign a contact at the beginning of each course, which details precisely what I am required to do: when I am required to upload materials, how often I am to interact with the class, when I will return assignments, and several other specifies related to teaching the online course.

The Mechanics of Online Courses

There is a common misconception that because an institution already has networked computers, all students have computers, and everyone is on the Web, there is not too much more that needs to be done to get going with online courses. I wish this were true because it would mean that a good deal of the startup cost would have already been incurred. But the bad news is, IHEs that want to offer online courses using an in-house system usually need to put a good deal of dedicated computer technology in place. The strength of this technology depends on how many courses are offered and how many students will be taking these courses. Naturally, the more courses and students, the more robust and costly the technology and support will need to be. Think you've got the technology already in place to send those traditional courses out over the Net? Wrong! See the technology checklist, left, for the basics needed for your in-house and student systems.

Compatibility and Capability

The university and student system needs may seem straightforward, but there are a number of compatibility and capability issues that need to be considered, too, before you set off. Compatibility-wise, everything must work together seamlessly, so it's best if everything is actually certified to work with everything else. Because you are working through the Internet, everyone will be using the same communication protocol of TCP/IP, so that shouldn't be a problem. But there can be compatibility problems on the student side, ordinarily relating to browser type, version, and configurations. Also, network configuration including e-mail and newsgroups needs to be set up just so.