Going online: Guidelines for faculty in higher education

Abstract

costs often consist of faculty time (e.g., usually paid by some type of temporary workload reduction) and technological support (e.g., often already on site). Faculty as developers tend to make use of existing hardware and software infrastructures. Thus, large, new capital budgets are not required. Online courses can generate larger enrollment, taping into new markets both on the national and international levels and do not require classroom space, therefore potentially increasing the return on investment (Owston, 1997). Along with these potential benefits, however, is the fact that few faculty have experience developing and teaching using online, computer-mediated courses. While growing, the supply of expert online faculty is not nearly adequate to meet the exponentially rising need. Web-based instruction (WBI) is complex, and calls for a synergetic process, in which concurrent and dynamic elements must meet to create a successful hypermedia learning environment. This article offers guidelines to faculty and designers in higher education regarding transitioning from face-to-face classroom instruction to WBI. The framework used involves four dynamic and inter-related perspectives: managerial, pedagogical, technical, and social. This discussion focuses mostly on the managerial and pedagogical issues of WBI development, with a lesser emphasis on the technical and social aspects. Still, it should be noted that because all four areas are interrelated and overlapping in many cases, it is often impossible to categorize an issue in a single area, even though it is done so here for convenience of the discussion.

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