Online course definition - edit and comment here.

Submitted by John Bourne(245)
Contributor
Fri, 10/15/2010 - 8:13am
 
Online Course – All course activity is done online; there are no required face-to-face sessions within the course.
 
Online courses totally eliminate geography as a factor in the relationship between the student and the institution. They replace all face-to-face sessions with online elements that facilitate the three critical interactions between the student and content, the instructor, and other students. While these courses may appeal to on-campus students, they are designed to meet the needs of students who do not have effective access to campus. They may reside near the campus, or they may reside quite a distance away in other states or even in other countries.
 
Over the years, universities have sought to serve this “non-traditional” population through a variety of media—from correspondence courses to satellite teleconferences—but only since the mid-1990s has technology enabled easy and continuous communication—interaction—among the learners and instructors at a distance. The Internet also has made library and other information resources available to this group. Improvements in basic technology also permit this user group access to complex data as in precision images, mathematical visualizations and simulations of various kinds. Social networking applications allow these learners to participate in both formal and informal learning communities.
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Comments

nan.chico1 year 29 weeks ago

Online really is different

Designing and participating in a completely online course is so different that it really needs to stand as a main category, with everything else (hybrid, enhanced, etc.) being "other."

In addition to the geography factor, fully online students (and instructors) have a level playing field that's not based on how one looks, sounds, or acts in person. Many of my students have "outed" themselves only after a course was finished to tell me what a wonderful opportunity it was to be perceived as normal, or without being seen through some stereotypical lens by their classmates, for the first time ever. This includes students who were deaf, morbidly obese, had tics, stuttered, and a host of other characteristics that had always counted against them in the past.

kylegra1 year 28 weeks ago

Level playing field

I appreciated your comments on how online learning can level the playing field. I have heard some similar comments from people who I know personally, who also take online courses.

To take this a step further, have you (or anyone else reading this) had any verifiable experience with students reinventing themselves in this “anonymous” context? That is, in an online environment, students (and instructors) can choose intentionally to exude various parts of their personality that may otherwise be difficult for them to do so in person. Moreover, what about participants completely changing various aspects of their personalities or thoughts to include brand new and otherwise nonexistent traits?

nan.chico1 year 28 weeks ago

Interesting question

Students/instructors who did choose to reinvent themselves as you describe before they started participating online would need to disclose this, otherwise how would we know?

I always take the point of view, whether f2f or online, that someone might be projecting an identity that isn't "really" them, for a variety of reasons. Including being in a witness protection program...

kylegra1 year 28 weeks ago

Inconsistency in action

Even online, it can be noticable from semester to semester when things change. Sometimes those changes are due to the learning that is taking place (hopefully), but others are much more easily recognized as being contrived.

I once read that people cannot consistently behave in ways that are incongruent with their true nature; that is, it will become too difficult to keep up an act indefinitely. Of course, there are exceptions. I assume those in witness protection have good motivation to make a few changes lasting.

sbrewer43 weeks 9 hours ago

What is an online lab course? Online versus Distance?

Hi, I have only been following these posts for a few weeks so have tried to get caught up. I am very interested in these discussions, but much of my online experience comes from teaching and designing lab courses, which leads to my question - Can this discussion of definitions also explain what an online laboratory course would be? In past Sloan-C workshops focussing on science labs there have been three main types of online labs discussed: - labs that use computer based simulations (commonly known as virtual labs, may be part of a f2f or online course) - labs that allow students to operate instruments remotely over the internet (commonly known as remote labs, may be part of a f2f or online lab course) - labs that use lab kits the student does at home as part of a distance laboratory course (no f2f contact, all instructor conact online except experiments use kits) Would be an online course since all instructor-student contact is online? Is this appropriate since the lab activities are 'hands-on'? This has been called a 'distance'course, but I did not see that term defined so I wonder how to distinguish between online & distance when so many courses these days use a course management system. Thanks for any help or comments!