1. Teaching online isn't really teaching.
2. There is no way you can do what I do in a classroom online.
3. The students will be short-changed in the process. I don't want to be part of this charade.
4. I won't be able to build a relationship with my students since I can't see them weekly. The affective domain won't be addressed.

Do any of these sound familiar? Let's look a little closer at pedagogy.

Teaching and learning do happen quite effectively online. Many of the methods you are already familiar with in the face-to-face classroom have their counterparts on the web. The difference is mainly in the tools you use for your instruction. Some of these tools are identical to those in the classroom, but others are unique to the web environment.

Do any of these methods sound familiar? Are you using any of them in your face-to-face classes? Almost any pedagogical method that you currently use can be adapted or modified to work online. The issue is really one of roles. The online teacher is much more of a facilitator of learning than an authoritative presenter of information. It is a different model for teaching.

IS IT THE TEACHING OR THE LEARNING THAT IS MOST IMPORTANT?

I think you would agree that it is the learning that takes place that is the more important of the two. We could get into the who area of educational psychology and how people learn, but that isn't the topic today. The teaching is just the vehicle to help the student learn, to help the student meet the objectives of the course.

Click on the links in the list of eight strategies (Small Groups, Research, etc.) above to view an example of how these tools can be used for instruction on the web. The examples are from courses we currently are using, have under production, or short tutorials available for faculty.