A survey conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group regarding online learning showed that the number of students enrolled in one or more online courses was nearly 7 million in 2011. This was more than a half million increase over 2010. At the college level, 32 percent of students are taking at least one online course.
As online education literally explodes, the issue facing the education system is that teaching online is not the same as teaching face to face. If you’re a teacher, be it home school, public school, Bible study teacher, or someone who teaches a special skill or subject, you know this.
The question for many people wishing to transition to teaching in a virtual classroom is a very simple one: How do I do an effective job of teaching online?
That’s the question this course is designed to answer. In this course, University of Phoenix Advanced Certified Online Instructor David Lantz walks you through the teaching strategies being used by the best online college instructors to teach in an asynchronous online course.
A total of 17 video lessons divided between 3 course modules constitute the core of the learning materials. These videos are recorded power point presentations converted to video designed to emphasize key learning objectives. Additionally, each module is accompanied by an ebook (PDF) designed to round out the video presentations. Each module is introduced and concluded by a video of the course creator, David Lantz.
A fourth module, Next Steps, concludes the course, and offers several other resources the student may wish to take advantage of.
Depending on the pace of the online learner, one should plan to spend about four hours going through the materials.
The course is divided into three modules. The first module, Creating a Culture of Self- Discipline Online, is designed to help you learn how to motivate your students to develop the self-discipline required to learn in the online environment. This module is, in turn subdivided into three parts.
· Learning Modality and Student Motivation
· Establishing Participation Expectations
· Building an Online Community
The second module, Managing the Online Classroom, recognizes that online facilitation involves three basic areas of focus: organizational, social, and intellectual. The instructor, therefore, should see his or her role as being that as a facilitator of online learning, rather than simply the “Sage on the Stage.” This module is also subdivided into three parts.
· Socratic Teaching: How to Teach by Asking Questions
· It’s ALL About What you Say and How You Say It
· Online Interaction: Best Practices
The third module, Preparing to Teach in the Flipped Classroom, examines the trend of having the student access the “lecture” via video/online instruction created by the instructor or another educator before coming to a face to face class. The role of the classroom teacher changes from Lecturer to Mentor. Rather than spending time teaching in class, the instructor uses learning-based activities. Doing this effectively requires the teacher to put a lot of effort into his/her course preparation up front. This module delivers the following three sessions:
· Enabling Your Students to Learn 24/7/365
· Creating Your On Demand Unidirectional Materials
· Exploring an Asynchronous Learning Management Classroom.
Why Take This Course
The explosion in online learning requires educators who know how to teach online. Key research findings about student learning in the online classroom underscore the importance of having instructors who can manage the online classroom to insure that students learn. Online facilitation involves three basic areas of focus: organizational, social, and intellectual. How to Teach in the Online Classroom 24/7/365 covers all three of these aspects of online instruction to prepare you to teach online.
About David Lantz
Hello, my name is David Lantz. I’ve been teaching online at the college level since 2004. I was voted Faculty of the Year by the first graduating class of the Indianapolis Campus of the University of Phoenix. In May of 2012, I was awarded that school’s Advanced Facilitator Certification. In addition to teaching online for University of Phoenix, I teach for 3 other schools on such subjects as statistics, economics, ecommerce, and public relations. Five years ago, I set about the process of showing others how to teach online. I worked with my first pilot group of 8 students over a four week period to demonstrate best practice techniques for online, asynchronous teaching. With Udemy’s powerful online course delivery system, I now have a way to take what we did in that prototype class and demonstrate the art of online instruction via video and downloadable text instruction.
Welcome to my course!
Please be sure to download the PDF syllabus file for the course to learn more about the learning objectives for each lesson.
In this lecture, we recognize that students either require extrinsic motivation, where you offer either carrots or sticks to complete the course, or intrinsic motivation – where they provide their own internal motivation to take your course. This lecture touches on the importance of learning modality and the steps you can take to help motivate your students to get the most out of your course.
In this lecture, we examine asynchronous communication and how it is used in managing an interactive classroom. We introduce the concept of posting discussion questions, and define substantive participation.
If you want your students to maximize what they get out of your course, build a sense of community between your students and yourself. Create a friendly, welcoming environment where everyone wants to help everyone else learn. This lecture explores ways to do this.
Please be sure to download the PDF ebook, Managing the Online Classroom E-book, that accompanies this module.
In this lecture, we look at how the art of teaching online must incorporate the knowledge and experiences of learners. Traditional sage on the stage teaching methods where the “teacher teaches while students learn” must give way to leveraging the “wisdom of the crowd” through the art of teaching by asking questions, otherwise known as Socratic Instruction.
In the interactive online classroom, we can’t make use of facial expressions, eye contact and body language like we do in a face to face classroom. In this lecture, we examine some mistakes instructors can make that hurt communication in the online classroom. We drill down into specific online techniques and how you come across – your “tone” – to keep the conversation going online.
To create interaction in the online classroom that maximizes student learning, we examine how to link discussion questions to conversations designed to achieve the learning objectives. We’ll look at stylistic posting techniques to highlight key parts of the online conversation, and how to use the “Fly Wheel Effect” to help keep conversations about the material moving.
In this module, we will contrast traditional teaching, where class time is used to lecture, with “flipped classroom” teaching, where students review videos at their own pace, and then spend time in class applying what they learned to actual situations. We’ll examine how to enable your students to learn 24/7/365, ways to create your on demand unidirectional materials, and how to prepare to teach in an online learning management platform. Please be sure to download the PDF text file, Preparing to Teach in the Flipped Classroom E-Book, that accompanies this module.
Please be sure to download the PDF text file, Preparing to Teach in the Flipped Classroom E-Book, that accompanies this module.
Now that you’ve completed the course, I’d like to leave you with these concluding thoughts.
I have always enjoyed being a teacher. I have taught adult Sunday School classes and small group bible studies for the last twenty years. Outside of the Bible, I am an Adjunct Professor of Business Management and Economics for the University of Phoenix, Indiana Wesleyan University, and several other Indiana colleges, including Ivy Tech. I teach both online and face to face courses. I was named the 2005 Faculty of the Year by the first graduating class of the Indianapolis Campus of the University of Phoenix.
From 1992 to 1995, I was the State Director of the Indiana Christian Coalition, and I’ve served as a political consultant to several political campaigns for statewide office. I’ve worked for such organizations as the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute and as a Budget Analyst for the Indiana Legislature. And, in 1999, I was privileged to prepare a socio-economic analysis of Central Indiana for Dr. Billy Graham’s 1999 Indianapolis Crusade.
I enjoy writing, and have self-published several books, including two Christian historical novels, The Brotherhood of the Scroll and The Sword of the Scroll, To The Brotherhood of the Scroll, I’ve written a companion course curriculum, “Clash of the Superpowers: A Comparative History Curriculum.”
My wife Sally and I have been married since 1979 and have three adult children, of whom we are very proud. Sarah is 32 and is a Surgeon. Jason is 31, married to his wife Gail and they have a son, Isaac. Josh is 26 and attends IUPUI.
My life verse is Proverbs 15:2, “The wise man makes knowledge acceptable.”