Education Service Center Region XI is an approved professional development provider for the Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN) to provide required training for teachers teaching electronic course/s offered through the network (TxVSN).

Online Teaching

This six-week online course will introduce the pedagogy/methodology each participant needs to effectively moderate and instruct an online course. This course is aligned to the NACOL Online Teaching standards and the only course in our program required for TxVSN online teaching approval.

This course is part of our Online Teaching and Learning program.

Schedule/registration and cost information are available in the ESC Region XI Workshop catalog Online Teaching - Best Practices in Online Teaching and Learning listing.

Other Fee-based Support Services for Online Teaching and Learning

Course Description

Online Teaching
Online Teaching, prepares face-to-face classroom teachers to become entirely online course instructors. Upon completion, teachers will have demonstrated a basic understanding of the National Standards for Quality Online Teaching from the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) while experiencing a highly interactive, instructor-led learning environment and evolving in a powerful online learning community.

After successfully completing the Online Teaching course participants will be able to identify and evaluate activities and projects, which will enable them to demonstrate their knowledge of teaching online.

They will get lots of opportunities to practice what they learn. Participants will discuss the course, ask questions, and get help with special problems through the course discussions.

The course is divided into four Modules. In each module, there is a syllabus which lists several discussion activities. Details for each of the discussion activities can be found in these module syllabi.

The course is based on Student - Centered Pedagogy.

The objectives that this course addresses are the NACOL Standards for Quality Online Teaching.

Website/Summaries/Analyses Discussion: Modules may include a website and/or a summary/analysis discussion. These activities will introduce the participants to resources available on the web and application of the course content. They are to summarize and analyze the content of these websites or activities, and create a link to the website if appropriate so others can go to it and discuss it with fellow classmates. In addition, the participant must discuss the websites or summaries/analyses posted by at least one other student.

Topic Student-led Discussions: In modules you will find Topic Student-led Discussions. This is the way we cover the content. For several topics the participant will ask a "critical thinking" question about some aspect of that topic in the module. Other students will respond to their question, and the participant will then reply back to those responses. In addition they will answer some of the questions posed by other students, and they are required to reply to their fellow classmate answers.

Product Discussion: Products, based on information the participant gained throughout the course, are required.

Everyone is encouraged to keep up these "virtual discussions" as long as they are productive. The idea here is for each student to lead in the specific discussion with the other students about some important issue and/or website introduced in the module, and participate in a few others.

A large percentage of a participant's CPE credit is determined by their participation in these discussions. These discussions will be graded. The participant is responsible for maintaining the quality of the discussion threads they lead. Every posting to a discussion should add something substantive to that discussion.

Course Credit - 18 CPE

Student Expectations:
1) Assume responsibility for your own learning outcomes. This class is both project-based and discussion-based. "Interactive Guides" will only touch on some of the most important aspects of your assignments and will highlight and clarify important concepts. As a result, participants will be expected to assume a great deal of responsibility for their own learning outcomes. If they are highly motivated, logon and participate several times in each module, and produce a quality product - they will be successful. However, if they logon sporadically, participate minimally, or submit poor work - they will not. Online learning is aimed at independent learners. If you require the structure of a classroom, this method will not suit you.

In the online classroom, this means that learners are responsible for actively seeking solutions to problems contained within the broad confines of the knowledge area being studied and raising the level of those solutions to one of more complexity. They are expected to view problems and questions from a number of perspectives, including the perspectives of other learners involved in the process. They are expected to question the assumptions presented by the instructor and those of the other students, as well as their own assumptions and ideas.

"You will get out of the class what you put into it"... this couldn't be more true than in an online class. There is no instructor looking over a persons shoulder to make sure they are completing all the assignments. Learning online allows a person a lot of flexibility. It also takes self-discipline. Dedicate time at a regular interval to work on.

2) Participants are part of a virtual community. The goal for this class is to create a "community of learners;" therefore, there is an expectation for everyone to actively participate in discussion and peer review by contributing to and responding to at least one other contribution. Other classmates are looking forward to hearing from each other. They want to hear about discoveries and opinions on the lesson's topics. They are there to learn from each other and with each other. Please speak and listen with utmost respect. Check in, read, write, and say "hello."

In short, the hope is that we will engage in a lively discussion about topics related to the online learning. Readings have been selected that it is hoped will spark this discussion and broaden perspectives on these topics. The primary role of the instructor is to act as a facilitator of learning, which is why taking responsibility for ones own learning and participation becomes so important.

3) Keep a Journal or "Learning Log". Keep a journal and submit reflections at the end of each Module. The intent of a journal is to highlight ones personal dimensions of learning; to articulate and document personal learning odyssey through this course. We strongly believe that learning is very personal and often 'what we learn' does not fall within the realm of standard assessments. Our hope is that a journal will help give us (and of course, the participant) a rich picture of their learning experience, and over time allow us to refine assessments to embrace the learning process in its entirety.

4) Course Competency: This program is developed with the expectation that a participant will already knows how to operate a computer with proficiency and browse the Internet. The course also has the expectation that the participant is a wanting participant in an online course environment.

Course Schedule
Detailed information on each module is contained in that Module's Syllabus located in each Module # section. The Module Syllabus offers a guide to the direction the work will take. Since any course must evolve to suit the needs and interests of students, the right to modify the syllabi as the course unfolds is reserved for the instructor.

Module 1: Building Community

• Interactive Guides: Read Interactive Guide 1-6
• Readings: Read the module selections for enrichment
• Discussion 1: What I Always Want To Know
• Discussion 2: Online Education
• Discussion 3: Community Building
• Journal

Standards: A, C

Module 2: Online Facilitation

• Interactive Guides: Read Interactive Guide 1-5
• Readings: Read the module selections for enrichment
• Discussion 1: Facilitating
• Discussion 2: Strategies for Communicating
• Discussion 3: Synchronous Communicating
• Journal

Standards: B, C, G, J

Module 3: Collaborative Groups

• Interactive Guides: Read Interactive Guides 1 - 3
• Readings: Read the module selections for enrichment
• Discussion 1: Collaboration?
• Discussion 2: Forming Collaborative Groups
• Journal

Standards: A, B, G

Module 4: Management and Feedback

• Interactive Guide: Read Interactive Guide one through seven
• Readings: Read the module selections for enrichment
• Discussion 1: Exploring Syllabi
• Discussion 2: Time Management and Feedback Issues
• Discussion 3: Welcome Letter
• Journal

Standards: D, E, F, H, I, J, K

Evaluations:
Each module consists of activities that will be done individually or collaboratively by teams. All activities will be uploaded or attached as individual files when required for completion of the activity.

Individual performance is assessed based on (1) participation in the discussion as per module and (2) completion of all activities in each module. Credit will be awarded to a participant at the completion of the course based on the participation and completion of all of these assessments. A Product Descriptor (rubric) is posted for appropriate product assessment to enable a participant to set and obtain the points necessary for credit. If they do not obtain the credit necessary for each activity they can improve on the activity until the desired level is reached. The deadline for accepting any improvements on an activity is by the end of the course.

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