Online leaning does not involve just uploading lecture notes to the internet. There are various other processes required which forms the online learning course. When formulating an online learning course for students or the world at large, there are various steps followed. First, a person who wants to post an online course must conduct an analysis of the course delivery (Ko and Rossen, 2010).
This involves assessing the type of students and their number. He must also analyze the delivery of the content whether the delivery will be in a class based or students will learn at their preferred time. Another aspect checked is the access of internet services to the students and other facilities that students may require.
This may include laboratory services, text books and library services among others. Lastly, a person must decide from where the students will be receiving their learning services. This can be in a personal website or college website (Ko and Rossen, 2010).
The other step is designing the classroom for the students. This will involve coming up with appropriate methods of assessing the students’ progress and discipline as well as designing ways in which discussions can be conducted if the course requires discussion (Ko and Rossen, 2010). Another step may involve the delivery of information to students. Delivery may be only through lecture notes or students may have to seek extra information from other books.
Another step is developing the resources for the online learning program. There are resources available online and some require copyright to access the content (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Zvacek, 2011). Alternatively, a person may choose to use the open source resources which are freely available on the internet. When developing the resources, it is always right for a person to acknowledge the source of materials he used in his work.
It is also necessary to consider the balance of information from various sources and the amount of workload. The person learning should be able to maneuver through the document easily without problems. The team members can easily help in implementing the course work and reviewing it.
Reviewing is done from the student side where a person analyzes the content and readability of the information contained in the online learning program (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Zvacek, 2011). Additionally, evaluation helps in checking whether website links included are viewable and accessible.
The team members should assist in designing an appropriate online learning system. Therefore, team members should share the same goal regarding online learning (Ko and Rossen, 2010). A common goal and understanding between members is also noteworthy. In case the team members will have to work individually at some point, they will give information leading to a common goal. Thus, there will be a continuous flow of information even though it was done at individual levels.
When the team members have different background in knowledge and skills, they bring different skills that help in producing an extraordinarily high quality online course (Ko and Rossen, 2010). For example, the team can comprise people having knowledge on internet programming, linguistics, health insurance, online payment, project management, online teaching among others. This will form a powerful team where each person specializes in a certain field.
Therefore, they will be able to offer the best of their abilities in the respective areas. Moreover, a differentiated team in knowledge and skills provides a better step by step progress ensuring full incorporation of all information required. The team helps in creating an innovative and exceptional online leaning course (Ko and Rossen, 2010). When working together as a team, they acquire group synergy. It becomes easy to correct mistakes because what one person cannot see another can see.
References
Ko, S. and Rossen, S. (2010). Teaching Online, A Practical Guide (3rd Edition). London: Routledge.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M. and Zvacek, S. (2011). Teaching and Learning at a Distance (5th Edition). New York: Allyn & Bacon.