Center for Innovations in Technology


	Introduction

	Pedagogical Aspects
	>Instructor as Facilitator
	>Instructor Visibility
	>Feedback
	>Online Materials

	Social Aspects

	Managerial Aspects
	>Organizational
	>Procedural
	>Administrative

	Technical Aspects

Managerial Aspects

Managing an online conference can be time consuming and labor-intensive, therefore, instructors who want to use online discussion for the first time should be aware and prepared to accept the challenge. Once the discussion starts students can create many messages that could overwhelm the instructor. The following suggestions may help you avoid common pitfalls.

Organizational

Organizational Tips

Plan ahead

Use discussion groups

Create cafe for informal conversations

Putting together an organized syllabus that establishes guidelines and provides students with clear and detailed information can save online instructors a lot of time and effort. The syllabus should state in detail what is expected when students have to give feedback to the class. It may be useful to provide both the week and the due date for assignments rather than just writing "the feedback is due on Monday".

Novice online instructors often underestimate the time and effort required for planning, developing and putting together online course materials. Many online instructors emphasize that lead-time to prepare an online course is substantially greater than they anticipated. Therefore, careful planning is essential.

A classroom with 20 students or more will likely generate a huge number of messages in a short time. Breaking the class into small groups with 5-7 students will ease the management issues. Furthermore, it will encourage more interactions among students by keeping the number of messages smaller and the discussion more on track.

For organizational purposes instructors may create an area in which they can post announcements, contact information, office hours, and links to related web sites. The idea of the announcement can be seen in Figure 4.

next>

Center for Innovations in Technology for Learning
Scott Quad 021 Athens, Ohio 45701
Tel: 740.597.2702 Fax 740.597.2707 Email:citl@ohio.edu
Ohio University Front Door

Home | Toolkit | Projects | Blackboard | Seminars