Online Learning

Our approach

• Leverage the best of both worlds
  Face-to-face and online teaching each have advantages and limitations. As an educator you want to know what they are, so you can leverage both to create optimal learning experiences for your students.
• A course is a course
  Online and face-to-face versions of the same course need to accomplish the same learning goals, although they will be designed differently to achieve the same outcomes.
• Good online teaching is first and foremost good teaching
  Fundamental learning and teaching principles – such as the value of choice, building on each student’s prior knowledge, collaborative learning, and “backward” instructional design, just to mention a few – apply in both modalities, so teachers can and should leverage their prior experience and current expertise when teaching online.
• “Less is more” with technology
  You do not need to learn a lot of technology to design and facilitate quality online learning experiences. Learning to use the key functions of a learning management system by itself is enough to produce high-quality online courses, as long as your instructional design is sound.
• Community and engagement are key
  Consistent with the “Community of Inquiry” framework, we aim for online courses that create an online community and include opportunities for:
  • Cognitive presence (e.g., students engaging meaningfully with the content of the course).
  • Social presence (e.g., students engaging meaningfully with each other); and
  • Teaching presence (e.g., instructor engaging with students, both directly and indirectly through the way the course is designed).
• Online courses require thoughtful planning
  Quality online courses require time careful planning and facilitation. Whenever possible, collaborating in the design of online courses will save time and lead to better teaching and learning.