I remember my first assignment to do an online class in 2005. Near panic set in.

How would I structure and teach this class? I couldn’t wrap my head around how to translate my syllabus and the learning content into a new pedagogical world. How could I recreate the lectures, the spontaneity of the discussions, and the excitement of a face-to-face class?

My online courses have evolved considerably over that time. I’ve taken many trainings from CU Online (now the Office of Digital Education), and had my course designs evaluated by that office and my colleagues. I signed up for MOOCS (massive open online courses) to explore their course design techniques. I’ve explored online courses from top schools like Harvard and MIT. I’ve peer reviewed multiple department online courses over the years. I’ve been successful as an online teacher and I continue to grow and improve my courses. Just as with face-to-face courses, there is always something more to learn.

There are two core principles that I know for sure:

• Courses must be designed to take full advantage of the very real strengths of online learning instead of trying to create a pale imitation of a conventional course with video lectures and real-time Zoom discussions. Yes, the technology for the latter exists but it won’t best serve your students.
• Online courses require a very different way of relating to students.

This series of posts will offer the guidance I wish I’d had when I started teaching online. It’s based not only on my experience, but also best practices I’ve seen in my colleagues’ work. These posts will cover what you need to know, step-by-step, from the ground up. Some caveats. These posts are about online pedagogy, not the technological side. There different ways of designing courses. While there are best practices there is not one right way to set up your class.  

Let’s puncture some myths about online learning.

First, I’ve heard people say the computer is taking over your job as teacher. Let’s clarify. Online courses are a tool of transmission in the same way email is a method of communication. Outlook, with the exception of a few simple sentences, doesn’t autorespond to your emails from students. You communicate with the student. Mobile phones don’t communicate for you with friends and family.  There is no artificial intelligence standing in for an instructor in an online course.

Second, contrary to a popular view, online courses aren’t easy for instructors or students. While the work load for an online course is front-loaded in terms of developing course content, the work of communicating with students is more intense throughout the semester, and the grading load stays equal. In fact, perhaps more so since grading feedback is more detailed as a primary means of communicating with online students.

The third point is about students. There is no way to hide in an online course. If they are not engaged with the course it will be very obvious as assignments and feedback are more frequent in an online course. (And for good measure, Canvas tracks each student’s page views and participation). In a face-to-face class, students can slide into a chair in the back, turn on their phone and tune out, or completely miss class, and then cram and regurgitate on exams. That won’t work in an online class. Students get more individual attention in an online class because they are so visible in an online class.

The latter is one of the major strengths of an online class. There are others we will address in the next post.

In exploding these myths, we will see throughout this series of posts that online is not better than  face-to-face or worse. They are simply different learning environments with each having different strengths and weaknesses.