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distance and continuing education
Suggestions for Instructors Developing a Course
for Distance Delivery
Printed
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Plan to start slow and build your
distance-delivered course over time. You may have
to teach the course several times before you feel
the class is “getting close to what you
want it to be.” Also, be sure to call on
others to assist you on developing your course.
Preparing
the Course
Interacting With Students
Administering the Course
Additional Information
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Preparing the Course
Develop an effective syllabus.
It should describe the course so students are
not surprised during the semester. Hint: Think
of the syllabus as an understanding with the students
that clearly sets forth activities and expectations.
- Visit
Academic Affairs for the NDSU minimum requirements
for a syllabus. Instructors for CAFSNR courses
should explain the Honor
System briefly in the syllabus.
- Be certain to clarify instructor
and student expectations in the syllabus; click
here for an example.
- Be certain to clarify what
technology (e.g., hardware, software and connectivity)
the students need to take the course.
- Consider devising an activity
to assure students understand the syllabus.
Establish a schedule for the course.
This can help keep the instructor’s responsibilities
manageable and it should help motivate the students
to complete their work. Even faculty admit that
if they do not have a deadline, they may not complete
online professional development training in a
timely manner. A schedule is important! The schedule
could follow the usual 15-week semester, or it
could be shorter or longer, depending on the course,
audience and instructor. The most important point,
though, is to establish deadlines for completing
assignments, activities and the overall course.
- The Office of the Registrar
is interested in establishing several schedules
for each semester to accommodate practices such
as add dates, drop dates and other such registration
deadlines. Check with the Office of the Registrar
or the Office of Distance and Continuing Education
for current information about schedules that
these administrative units support.
Use the technology (e.g., Web site, Blackboard,
video conferencing, CD, video bytes, audio bytes)
that makes sense for your course material and
students. Additional considerations when selecting
technology are you - the instructor - and the
technical support available to you. Every instructor
will not use the same technologies or techniques;
every course will not require the same technology.
- Laboratory exercises pose
a special challenge and often require extensive
planning for a distance-delivered course.
- Be ready to address the range
of “technology” problems students
may encounter. These problems often include
slow Internet connections, not having the necessary
hardware (e.g., CD drive), not having the necessary
software, not being allowed by the program to
access course materials, student not having
much computer experience, etc. Each problem
requires a different solution, so an important
first step when a student with a technology
problem contacts you is having a way to identify
the real cause of the difficulty.
Distributing tangible course
materials can be a challenge. Provide information
on how students can acquire the text, e.g., order
from the campus bookstore, purchase online, etc.
Consider what materials you are willing and able
to provide via a Web site or on a CD. A CD helps
overcome the hurdle of a slow Internet connection
for students; a Web site is updated easily throughout
the semester and it’s an inexpensive way
to distribute materials.
Developing educational materials takes
time. Some instructors indicate “much more
time than an on-campus course;” others state
that developing an online course does not take
much more time and effort than an excellent campus
course. The bottom line: The amount of time developing
a distance-delivered course will take depends
on the current status of your course materials.
Alternatives for course materials include relying
on published materials (but beware of copyright
law); developing your own; or using a
combination of printed, Web, audio and video materials.
- We would encourage instructors
to edit recordings of live classroom lectures
extensively before distributing them to distance
students. Although effective for a “live”
audience, these lectures may not be effective
for a distance-delivered class. Also remember
- students may have slow Internet connections.
Consider short video or audio clips of key points
rather than full lectures. Even these short
clips can be troublesome with a slow connection.
- See Copyright
Fair Use for Educators, NDSU General Counsel
- Additional information about
copyright law:
Copyright
Issues, The University of Texas System,
Office of General Council
Copyright
Infromation, The University of Texas System,
Office of General Council
Copyright
and Fair Use, Stanford University Librairies
Copyright,
United States Copyright Office
Copyright
Law, United States Copyright Office
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Interacting With Students
Consider how you will
engage students to interact with you
and one another. Examples include “chat
rooms” or threaded discussions, an occasional
meeting at a common site, an occasional video
conference or conference phone call. Use assignments,
short papers and other traditional educational
tools to engage students.
- Consider how much time responding
to numerous e-mails and assignments will take
in designing how you will engage the students.
- Consider visiting the students
at their location early in the course; e.g.,
if several students are attending at a video
conferencing site or learning center, consider
traveling to and teaching from that site. This
is an opportunity for you to meet them, for
them to become acquainted with you, and for
you to demonstrate your interest in their success.
- Consider an activity that will
bring the students in the region to the NDSU
campus for several days; e.g., a Friday afternoon
and Saturday, or a week-long lab experience.
This is an opportunity for them to "connect"
to NDSU, our people, and our resources. One
or two campus activities coordinated among several
courses may be especially appropriate for students
pursuing a program of study. Be careful though
to not disadvantage students who cannot attend
a campus activity due to distance.
Consider how you will determine whether the student
is learning the subject matter. Again,
you can use traditional educational techniques
- with some modification. Having students e-mail
an outline to the instructor, who then e-mails
it to the other students, followed by a conference
phone call/discussion, could substitute for a
short student presentation. Recognize that such
an activity not only reinforces the students’
understanding of the subject matter, it also allows
them to practice lifelong skills, such as communicating
“over the miles.”
How will you assess student learning (to
the extent this differs from the previous point)?
Consider the procedures you will use to gather
student feedback about the course. You’ll
likely implement this process at the end of the
course, but you also can use it throughout the
course. Consider available “tools”
such as online course evaluations.
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Administering the
Course
Rely on NDSU Distance and Continuing
Education for course promotion and administration.
- If the course will be taught
on campus and via distance delivery at the same
time, consider offering two sections - one for
each audience. This can ease administration;
it also will be helpful if the student activities
will be different for on-campus students and
distance students. However, offering additional
sections may require more time from the instructor.
- Off-campus NDSU employees
may want to register for the section the NDSU
registrar administers so employees can use their
“tuition waiver.” This appears to
be a reasonable strategy at this time, but it
may require special attention.
- Be sure to have basic information
about the course available in printed or electronic
format so you can respond quickly when interested
people contact you. Helpful information includes
a description of the class, when the course
will meet (if at all), when the course will
begin and how to enroll (even how to be admitted
to NDSU if the person has not attended NDSU
in the past).
- A news release via NDSU Agriculture
Communication appears to be a good strategy
to get additional exposure for the course. Be
ready, however, to respond to a range of inquiries
because a variety of individuals ranging from
high school students to senior citizens see
these releases.
- Consider “capping”
enrollment for the distance-delivered course
at a reasonable number. Of course, this will
differ for every course and instructor.
Offering the course via other institutions,
such as another NDUS institution, can be effective
but also can raise additional administrative issues
that need to be resolved as soon as possible.
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Additional Information
Web sites with information about
distance education:
University
of Idaho
University
of Wisconsin, Madison: Distance Learning Conference
Several books on distance education
are available
at the NDSU
library.
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