Creating a Successful Online Environment

07/28/2006

Creating a Successful Online Environment

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.
C.S. Lewis

Ken Switzer shares strategies for establishing a welcoming environment in your online course in the December issue of the Educator’s Voice, the eCollege eNewsletter. He discusses the transition from the classroom where the instructor needs a great lesson plan and a passion for the subject matter being taught, to the online course where instructors may feel unsure of how to teach their class and reach their students effectively.

Switzer offers a number of proven strategies for dealing with the loss of face-to-face classroom interactions and its positive impact on student motivation and achievement. These include:

Send a “Welcome” e-mail
Present a welcoming course home page
Provide a welcome announcement
Introduce yourself in the syllabus
Encourage student interaction
Provide constructive feedback

To read the article and learn more about how to establish a welcoming environment online, go to the Educator’s Voice at http://www.ecollege.com/news/EdVoice.learn

Visit eCollege at http://www.ecollege.com

Explore the Educator’s Voice Archive at http://www.ecollege.com/news/EdVoice_arch.learn

Contributed by Chip Donohue

A New Career Helping Young Children Develop and Learn
Learn how to give a young child the very best foundation possible �" with a Bachelor of Arts Early Childhood Development at National University.

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