April 2001 — Features
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Designing and Delivering an Online Course for K-12 Educators
- Applying what they had read to typical Internet-based lesson scenarios
- Participating in simulated Internet-based lessons
- Applying what they had read to develop a plan for their own classrooms
All of these different types of exercises had been designed as part of the strategy to incorporate authentic learning and project-based learning into the course material. Other required course exercises such as reading case studies and providing critical reviews of Internet-related material did not provide some students with the learning experience hoped. These students were most interested in applying what they learned to their own teaching efforts.
Effect on Teaching Practices
Although it was not a direct objective for this course, many teachers reported that their comfort level using technology, as well as their computer and Internet skills, improved by taking this course. Just taking an online course and having to deal with all the technical issues that surfaced was in itself a good learning experience for the students, and better prepared them for dealing with technical issues back in their own classrooms. All of the students stated that they felt more prepared to use the Internet for classroom instruction than they had prior to taking the course.
As a result of taking this course, students felt that they were better able to:
- Use an Internet-based lesson in the classroom
- Develop a plan for using an Internet-based lesson in the classroom
- Manage the implementation of an Internet-based lesson in the classroom
- Identify appropriate uses of the Internet for classroom instruction
- Integrate unique and compelling Internet resources into classroom instruction
- Instruct other teachers in ways to use the Internet in their classrooms
This course has helped students feel better prepared to undertake Internet-based projects. Further, students implemented some projects in their classrooms while still enrolled, and they completed the course with working plans for integrating future projects. Some teachers have even already seen the effect of their newly found knowledge and skills on their own students. Physics teacher Matt Klemchalk, a student in this course, remarked, "this course has changed the way I teach now! I could see an immediate response in my students. Since what we were learning in the course was directly applicable to the classroom, the work in this course was serving two purposes. Most of my upper level students were aware that a number of activities that they have been working on in class are experimental in nature. Because of this, they sense a pioneering spirit and are more than eager to participate, learn, and teach (including me, their teacher!)."
Lessons Learned
The user interface of the course bulletin board was not designed well and led to a significant amount of confusion on the part of the students, especially those new to using this mode of communication. Part of the problem was due to how the system marked messages as read as soon as they were viewed once and then would not display these messages again unless specifically requested. These problems interfered with the initial use of the system and the student interactions that are critical to the learning process. A newer version of the bulletin board addresses these problems and will be used for the next run of the course.
