Over the last ten years I have been involved with 30+ online or distance learning courses. Distance or online learning pertains to engaging a course or learning via the use of the Internet through a computer. Online learning can be used as a method to secure knowledge for interest, organization requirement, or to obtain a PhD. Primary schools are using online activities to teach various subjects & assignments. Online learning courses are synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous learning is live learning which takes place at the same time that an instructor is presenting the course. Here the student & teacher are engaged in the process through the use of a microphone, earphone, monitor, computer & video camera. Asynchronous means that the course has a website Internet address or URL & the learner logs on the website to study, engage in a discussion or take a test. The student may engage the course of study 24hours a day 7 days a week.
Internet learning 10 years ago was a developing phenomenon. Course developers presented their courses in synchronous format but the video stream did not match the audio or the video arrived from the Internet in a broken up fashion. Such programs usually fell by the wayside & in the interim were replaced over the years to the present as workable platforms with minor problems. Such problems are exacerbated by instructors who are lacking in teaching experience & the combination places the potential online learner in a double jeopardy situation whereby he or she stands to lose via poor program or platform development & improper teaching interaction. The teacher sets up the course outside the standards of proper teaching practice & /or lacks the people skills to respond to studdnt problems in an appropriate manner. Let us examine some of the current issues of online programs & the telltales of improper teaching approaches usually found in the course requirements.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6164511
