To be, or not to be: online that is.

Take a peek at Thomas H. Benton's article, “Online Learning: Reaching Out to the Skeptics” as found in the Chronicle last week.  Dr. Benton does a great job of jumping past the old arguments of whether online learning is as good or better than face-to-face courses.  Instead, he focuses on how to use technologies to enhance what is happening in the classroom.

Here are his seven “interlocking components” to consider when looking to experiment with technology in your course:

1. Move away from a dichotomous view of teaching as online or face to face, and toward the idea that all courses can potentially involve both methods.
2. Create opportunities for consultation and collaboration among faculty members, librarians, and technologists.
3. Eliminate most of the uncertainties and technical problems faced by faculty members who would like to try new methods but don't know how and lack the equipment.
4. Provide continuing support to faculty members who experiment with new teaching methods, not just during the development phase of a course but throughout its implementation, so that teachers can learn and adapt "on the ground."
5. Find new ways to streamline the process of developing online content and managing courses to protect the time of faculty members.
6. Reduce the isolation of teachers by promoting the development of collaborative new-media projects—with students as well as other faculty members—as a legitimate and recognized supplement to traditional, solitary research production.
7. Show the effectiveness and complementarity of different approaches to teaching, taking care that assessment instruments do not skew the results.

Contact an ETS Instructional Designer for a consultation if after reading his article you find yourself ready to experiment with your course!