Tips and Resources for Online Instructors

The successful online instructor should integrate life experience, professionalism, communication and content into the learning environment. Facilitators should have a broad base of life experiences in addition to the appropriate academic credentials. They should be experienced in real world applications of their subject matter and have a solid grasp of the issues being taught.

Online facilitators must clearly communicate expectations and explictly state learning goals . The instructor should provide students with the skills and knowledge to meet the learning goals. A well designed, structured and sequenced course content enables the learner to proceed through the course with the least amount of difficulty. The instructor may also want to provide links to tips and resources that might help the students become more successful online learners .

The online facilitator should promote online communication. The online facilitator should provide frequent and meaningful interactions among the students, between the student and the instructor and between the student and the instructional materials.

The online facilitator should demonstrate the qualities of openness, concern, flexibility, and sincerity. To compensate for lack of physical presence in the classroom the facilitator should take special care to create a supportive environment where students feel comfortable participating.

A successful online facilitator should feel comfortable communicating in writing. Many instructors find that online classes are more work than traditional classes because questions/comments must all be in writing. This can be very time consuming.

The facilitator should be able to accept the value of facilitated learning as equal to the traditional model. If an instructor is not sold on online learning as a viable learning arena this lack of enthusiasm might be picked up by the students. The instructor must believe in the effectiveness of the online paradigm and the value of critical thinking.

The online facilitator should have methods for providing assessment, feedback, and reinforcement.