When one thinks of the traditional classroom, often they picture a blazer-clad professor lecturing. Perhaps they think of worksheets and handouts. Perhaps thoughts of being nervous before an important exam come to mind or maybe one thinks of stopping by the instructor’s office during office hours to discuss a difficult concept or ask a question regarding the text.
In an online classroom, while there are still nerve-wracking tests and important announcements that highlight key concepts of the course, much of the interaction is significantly different from the traditional classroom. Stopping by to talk to an instructor during office hours usually means typing in a chat window or sending an email. A lecture is usually something the instructor prepares ahead of time – either in video or text format. The delivery of the course is quite different from a traditional classroom, but the end result – student learning of the course outcomes – is ultimately the same.
As online education continues to evolve there are new platforms for online course delivery that are being utilized by schools every day. Some larger, for-profit, online institutions contract with companies to develop their own, school-specific, course platform. Other schools pay a fee to an outside source to host and maintain the online courses their faculty develop. Others utilize free platforms in order to save on costs.
There are literally hundreds of platforms available – WebCT, Angel, Sakai, the list of names could go on and on. However, most adjuncts will typically only work within a few platforms. The schools that I’ve taught for have used either their own, college specific platform, BlackBoard, or Moodle.
Of the platforms I have worked with, I have developed my own personal preferences regarding each – as well as my own list of areas where the platform could be improved to be more user-friendly for the instructor, student, or both. In order to keep up, BlackBoard and Moodle release new, updated versions often, and it’s imperative that instructors keep up with the changes after their initial training in order to continue to utilized the course tools effectively.
Using the course platform correctly is imperative to being an effective online instructor. Instructors need to be able to utilize not only the basics of the platform but need to understand how to tailor the platform to fit the needs of the class and of individual students. Instructors need to be able to utilize aspects of classroom such as the ability to embed videos, insert hyperlinks within written text, and find ways to use the software to engage students with the material being taught.
On the surface, the course platform seems basic, but utilizing the platform and understanding the ins and outs of the system can make all the difference in how an online class is perceived and in a student’s overall learning throughout the course.
What platforms have you utilized in the online classroom? Which platform did you like best? How do you envision platforms improving in the future?
About the Author
Jamie Weitl is a WAHM teaching for several online universities and raising three precocious little ones. In her spare time she enjoys writing, baking, and running. For more info, see my Google Plus Profile.
