Online Learning is offering to faculty the experience of being an online student in a short course called Essentials of Online Teaching. The course will be held for three weeks, starting in week six of spring quarter. The ideal candidate is a new full-time or adjunct faculty member who has been assigned to teach a course online for the first time.

Teaching a college course on the Internet comes with different challenges than in a face-to-face course, though the goal remains the same: effectively imparting knowledge in a learning community. The idea of Essentials of Online Teaching is to guide faculty through a mock online course, through the eyes of a student. Enrollees learn the best practices for tools and techniques that any online learner would confront, such as creating and maintaining moderated asynchronous discussions and using online quizzes.

The course is conducted entirely online within RIT's course management system, myCourses. And though the enrolled faculty take on the role of students, the subject matter of the course is online teaching. Things can get interesting and lively when enrollees begin asynchronously discussing online teaching techniques, such as comparing effective grading rubrics for online assignments.

Faculty receive short assignments that expose them to commonly-used features of myCourses and are expected to meet weekly goals, set by the course instructor. Some features of an effective online course are surprisingly easy to manage — such as using a consistent typeface and font size and posting an introduction of yourself in the first week. Award-winning online courses, already developed and used by RIT faculty, are cited by the instructor as examples of how it should be done.

Participants get a sandbox course shell in myCourses in which they can build an online course. One of the expected end results is a syllabus adapted for an online course, created by the enrollee. They're not left alone in this pursuit; the staff of instructional technologists at Online Learning guide the faculty in building their syllabi, using a 10-point checklist that, if followed, should result in an effective online course.

Participants in Essentials of Online Teaching should expect to spend about four hours each week on course work. Participants will receive a $300 pre-tax stipend and certificate of completion for successfully completing the course.

For upcoming offerings of the Essentials of Online Teaching visit the Training & Events page to register. For more information contact Cheryl Herdklotz. Because enrollment is limited, early registration is recommended.