Dykman, Charlene A., PhD., and Charles K. Davis PhD. "Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally." Journal of Information Systems Education 19.2 (2008): 157-64. ABI/INFORM Complete; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 27 June 2012.
This paper is truly worth a read, it is fairly short, but truly packed with essential information for instructors using the online format. It is the middle of three papers published by the Journal of Information Systems Education from the “Online Education Forum”. The result of extensive research brought out many of the key components that are needed for successful use of online education. Among these are many concepts that are quite different that what is considered normal pedagogy for traditional classes.
1) Clear Organization- encouraging students to “explore” doesn’t work as well online. In a face-to-face environment the instructor can watch for signs of frustration in the students and be able to give guidance as needed. In the online environment, very defined and clear objectives are needed to ensure that students know precisely what is expected of them.
2) Coaching- the instructor needs to communicate not just in the new format, but spend extra effort to build relationships with the students. Just waiting for the students to initiate all contact, according to this research, is not sufficient. The professor should take initiative and provide constant feedback to continually coach and encourage the students. This is quite different from many pedagogies, even the idea of scaffolding and vanishing. Because of the lack of face-to-face interaction with the student, the instructor cannot easily adjust to the student’s growing changes in ability. Instead coursework has to be carefully designed before the class starts, changes midway are often misunderstood and can lead to confusion. Which leads to the next point-
3) Consistency- All the various aspects of an online course should be designed to provide an atmosphere of consistency, quality and caring. The instructor can set the standards for discussion and involvement.
I found this paper extremely helpful in planning my class material. It is easy to want to plan a program that is full of “bells and whistles” to impress my peers with how much I know about technology, but if I truly care about the students and I want to provide a platform where they can truly learn something, I need to take these principles to heart.
Overall, I found more packed into this journal article than many books that I’ve read about teaching in the digital environment. Also, I thought it was interesting that one of the authors, Dr. Dykman got her MA from Michigan State and went on to get a PhD and MBA in Management Information Systems (very close to what I am doing right now-- the Master’s part that is).
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