1. Margaret Fraiser UW-Milwaukee Challenges and Strategies for Teaching Online Courses

2. Online Courses – What are they?  Online Courses: 100% of classroom time replaced by online assignments and activities.  Blended Courses: ≥20% of classroom time replaced by online assignments and activities.

3. Online Courses – What are the benefits?  Students can learn anywhere at any time.  Multimedia.  Bridges geographical distances.  Faster, cheaper than traditional learning.  Flexibility.  Responds to different learning techniques.  Increased access.

4. Online Courses – What are the drawbacks?  Students must be self-starters.  Sense of isolation.  Health-related concerns.  Can you think of others?

5. Online Courses – Why are they significant?  Becoming a prominent mode of programming and delivery in education.  E-learning will be the norm.

6. Online Courses – Can geosciences be taught online?  YES!  Think about:  Digital content.  Assessment.  Interactivity.  What course(s) do you think would work well as an online class?

7.  How do I:  Deliver content?  Find context?  Make sure they ‘get it’?  Keep students engaged?  Provide structure and flexibility? Online Courses – Where to start?

8. Online Courses – Start with your objectives  Upon completion of the course, it is expected that learners will be able to:  Conduct a literature review.  Analyze data.  Identify minerals.  What are the objectives for your course(s)?

9. Online Courses – Create activities  Build assignments that encourage students to engage with course content.  Include detailed instructions, clear deadlines and expectations.  Examples:  Quizzes  Individual reflections  Discussion posts (questions and responses)  What sorts of activities would be best for your course?

10. Online Courses – Assessment  Use tools that provide frequent, low stakes numerical and narrative feedback.  Aim at assessing performance, indicating areas for improvement.  What methods of assessment would you like to use?

11. Online Courses – What types of digital content can you use?  Create of find rich and interactive media, video clips, audio clips, animations, etc.  Establish instructor presence.  What types of content would work for your course?

12. Online Courses-Further information  http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWor kshops/online/index.html