May 2004

Full issue in PDF format

Student Facilitation, Self-Assessment Can Improve Threaded Discussions
Facilitating and assessing threaded discussions can be quite time consuming for online instructors, especially in a class with many students or with a very active discussion board. But instructors do not have to take on this burden alone. By sharing these responsibilities with students, instructors can save time while improving the course by increasing student responsibility and self-awareness, says Dale Vidmar, library instruction and distance education coordinator at Southern Oregon University.

Tips from the Pros: Preparing to Teach Online
If you are preparing to teach a course online for the first time, consider the following preparation advice from Diablo Valley College:

Student and Faculty Views of Streaming Video
The University of Maine’s Continuing and Distance Education Department began offering video streaming courses during the 2001–2002 academic year based on the standard interactive television (ITV) model — simultaneously serving on-site and distance students. In 2003 the CED and University College conducted a formal study of streaming video as a course delivery method.

Questioning the Hybrid Model
Hybrid courses — combinations of face-to-face classroom instruction with asynchronous online elements — are frequently spoken of as the future of e-learning, a “best of both worlds” merger of old and new. Yet Dr. Saxon G. Reasons, instructional technology services programming manager at the University of Southern Indiana, has seen data and collected anecdotes that make her question that scenario. She and her colleagues have gathered evidence that shows that hybrid courses have some distinctive problems of their own to work out before they become the preferred format.

Multimedia Helps Online Courses Simulate Face-to-Face Interactivity
When Richard Payne, coordinator of multimedia at Chattanooga State Technical Community College, helps faculty incorporate multimedia into their courses, he begins with the premise that students take online courses for convenience and flexibility, not because they want to avoid interacting with the instructor and classmates.

Structuring Online Courses to Engage, Guide Students
Like many distance educators, Samantha Birk, instructional designer and fine arts instructor at Indiana-University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, had little knowledge of what she was getting herself into when she was approached to develop and teach a distance course in 1996. She began by making videotapes of her lectures and basically did what she did in class.