Welcome

So, you've decide (or been told) to move your existing face-to-face course online. It’s OK to be a little apprehensive when developing and conducting your first online class. You have a lot of questions—just like your students may if they are taking their first dip into the online pool of learning. Be assured that you will make mistakes—we all have—but few are ever unrecoverable. As you're developing, use this course, your institution's resources, and colleagues as information sources and as sounding boards.

Then, as you're teaching, be upfront with your students that you’re all learning together. Share with them when you’re experimenting with new techniques; invite them to share their experiences with you. Some of the best learning occurs when unexpected consequences happen and you need to step back and regroup.

The one thing to make sure of is this: when you invite student input, make sure to let them see that you read, value, consider, and truly HEAR what they tell you. When an instructor invites input then students never see any changes, they will soon perceive that you don’t VALUE the input you receive and they will stop giving any.

On the following page, you can review a short presentation to explain how to navigate the course.