Welcome

The Broad Overview
      Online Learners

Course Design
      Introduction
      Types of Web Courses
      Converting to Online
      Best Practices
      Course Design
      Design Elements
      Instructional Creativity
      Communication Issues
      Online Assessment
      Using Multi-Media
      Copyright Issues
      References

Course Dev. Workshop

Online Literature
      Scholarly Resources
      Teaching Resources
      Useful Links


Communication Issues in Online Learning:

Before we define the 5 types of web courses we need to make a distinction between: Distributed and Online Learning. Distributed learning is not just a new term to replace the other 'DL,' distance learning. Rather, it comes from the concept of distributed resources. Distributed learning is an instructional model that allows instructor, students, and content to be located in different, non-centralized locations so that instruction and learning occur independent of time and place.

The distributed learning model can be used in combination with: · traditional classroom-based courses, · traditional distance learning courses, · can be used to create wholly virtual classrooms

The 5 Types of Web Courses:How is an online course defined? The term "online course" is quite broad, and is often used to refer to various levels of Web use. Judith Boettcher of the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN) generalizes four levels of possible Web activity for a course in her article Another Look at the Tower of WWWebble http://www.cren.net/%7Ejboettch/webble1099.html
  1. A course with a Web presence -- at a minimum -- has all the information about the course that has traditionally been in the course catalog. The site may also have pictures of the course faculty, course outlines, bibliographies, and course requirements.
  2. Web-enhanced course. A Web-enhanced course makes use of Web technology and services to support distribution of course materials and student access to the resources on the Web. Typical web-enhanced courses might include the following online: Syllabus Calendar Readings Resources Bibliography Glossary Links to Professional Organizations Current News Lecture Notes Listserv Discussion Board. Here is an example of a web-enhanced course http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy390a/
  3. Web-centric course. A Web-centric course makes significant use of Web technology to provide access to class materials and support communication between faculty and students, among students, and between students and resources. A key characteristic of a Web-centric course is that the communication hub of a course has shifted from the physical classroom to the Web.
  4. Hybrid Course. Although not named by Boettcher, "Hybrid" is the name commonly used nationwide to describe courses that combine face-to-face classroom instruction with computer-based learning. Hybrid courses move a significant part of course learning online and, as a result, reduce the amount of classroom seat time. Here are some great examples of hybrid courses http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/LTC/examples.html
  5. Web course. A full Web course is a course that can be accessed anywhere and anytime via the Internet and a Web browser. A Web course makes significant use of Web technology to facilitate access to class materials and to support communication between faculty and students, among students, and between students and resources.

Here are two searchable collections of specific examples of how teachers are using the web, be it any of the 5 course types mentioned above.