Managing Online Learning

The Life-Cycle of Successful Programs

John Vivolo, John Vivolo

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429775123
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Managing Online Learning is a comprehensive guide to planning and executing effective online learning programs. Featuring contributions from experienced professionals across operations in university and corporate settings, this all-in-one resource provides leaders and administrators with informed strategies for supporting learners' and instructors' evolving needs, implementing and evaluating pedagogically sound technologies, projecting revenue-generating models, and anticipating future scaling challenges. These highly applied chapters cover essential topics such as unit design, management of staff and finances, student engagement, user experience and interface, data analytics, and more.

Section 1

Organizational Leadership and Management

1

Overview of Online Learning and an (Un)official History

John Vivolo

Let’s Start With the Basics

Throughout this book, we will reference some basic online learning terminology. Individual authors may add additional terminology, but here is a quick list of basic terms to help familiarize yourself or remind yourself if you are experienced.

Learning Time

This is the estimated time you think it will take an online learner to complete a specific task, module, or assessment in an online environment (this is sometimes referred to as time-on-task). When looking at “learning time,” we can consider two types of tasks that normally happen in person:

• In-class tasks
• Work normally completed in an in-person environment. These are required tasks, such as lectures, discussions, short readings, projects, and other assessments.
• Out-of-class
• Work normally completed at home. This might be a required task or a supplemental task. These include tasks such as required readings, high-stakes assignments (papers and projects that take more time to complete than in a class), and supplemental (optional) resources.

Determining learning time is one of the first steps you should make when developing a course, other than developing learning objectives or outcomes.

Online Learning Formats

Technology Assisted

This term refers to any effort to introduce technology into the classroom as a means to augment that learning but not necessarily to replace any learning time. Therefore, a course still meets in person during normal hours without moving any learning time to an online environment. However, parts of the work (e.g., discussions, assessments, document sharing) are potentially incorporated with some kind of educational technology (most likely a learning management system [LMS]). This isn’t technically an online learning effort but is an early path many organizations and schools adopt. Its goal involves helping people become more comfortable with the technology. For example, many colleges give students access to a LMS for their on-campus classes to be used as a tool throughout their academic career.

Blended, Hybrid, or Flipped

This term has evolved over the years but still remains the same at its root. Essentially, part of the learning normally reserved for in-person interaction now takes place in an online environment, most likely through an LMS or possibly a webinar system. If a class normally meets for 4 hours on-site, in a hybrid or blended version, perhaps 2 of those 4 hours now meet via a discussion board or webinar or requires some other activity performed online.

Some organizations try to define how many hours online constitute as hybrid or blended, while others focus less on time online and more about activities online. For example, a flipped classroom refers to the lecture component viewed online while the discussion and other activities are completed on-site. This works especially well for STEM courses in which a physical lab might be required. A reverse flipped classroom might include the lectures happening on-site (allowing questions to be asked) and the deeper discussion happening online without the restriction of time. Many organizations choose this format as a way to more easily transition a group normally more comfortable with traditional on-site learning rather than an online environment.

Fully Online

This is the traditional (if one can use that term) form of online learning. The first online learning efforts started with a fully online learning format. This means that all lectures, discussions, and activities happen in the digital environment. There are no in-person meetings. In fact, if there need to be meetings, online programs might use a webinar or video chat tool as a virtual office hour. The majority of online learning efforts use this format because of the flexibility it offers. This flexibility includes freedom from a reliance on time and space associated with the traditional classroom (i.e., no scheduled time or limited classroom space).

Asynchronous Learning (Non-Real Time)

Non-real time: That’s the best way to explain it. It’s any learning or communication that isn’t live. It could be video, audio, a document, a program, an app, or engagement tools such as a discussion board forum, virtual chat room, or even email. Most online learning courses produce asynchronous content and promote asynchronous communication as part of the learning community building effort.

Synchronous Learning (Live or Real-Time)

After years of evolution, synchronous tools have finally reached a point of usability. This is the ability to talk live to a person or group of people. Many courses like to use a synchronous event as an anchor to the course, perhaps once a week or every other week. They use it to help answer questions, review an example, encourage group work, and just to generally create a connection between students to students and teacher to students. Examples include webinars, video chats, and live streaming; this includes those integrated into social media platforms.

Note: In an effort to keep this information relevant, this book will actively avoid mentioning a specific program or system by name.

The (Un)official History of Online Learning

Before we dive into online learning management, it’s important for all readers to get a sense of the scope and sudden growth of online learning over the past 20+ years. Figure 1.1 provides a graphical representation of the growth of online learning and its connection with the availability of the Internet.

This (un)official timeline is for your reference so you can get an idea of the rapid growth of online learning and its connection to technological revolutions, like the Internet (obviously), mobile phones, tablets, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), webinars, and so on. Throughout this book, the authors will reference the importance of these items, but it’s best to visually see the growth to understand that online learning is an organism that changes based on the rapid development of technology and the demands of learners (Figure 1.2).

Let’s explore each era.

Early 1990s

The Internet starts to appear in the general public with the introduction of dialup companies such as America Online, Prodigy, and Comcast. At this time, 15 million Internet users exist in the world, mostly in the United States.

Figure 1.1 Worldwide Internet access (in billions).

Figure 1.2 Online learners (in millions).

Late 1990s

Less than 10 years later, the phenomena that is the Internet starts. 280 million people have access to the Internet. Broadband (high-speed Internet) is introduced to the public, mostly through cable television companies. Early forms of online learning begin to appear as organizations and schools begin to recognize the potential of this new technology.

Early 2000s

Less than 5 years later, the number of Internet uses nearly doubles to 400 million. Universities and for-profits begin introducing online degrees and courses. For-profit online learning companies appear as well.

Mid 2000s

Internet users hit 1 billion. The Online Learning Consortium (OLC; previously known as the Sloan Consortium or Sloan C) begins tracking people who have taken an online learning course (in the United States only). International tracking of online learning still remains difficult to ascertain. OLC states that 3.5 million people have taken an online learning course in the United States.

Late 2000s

Two billion Internet users in the world. OLC: 5 million people have taken an online course. Many major universities create online programs. Wi-Fi becomes readily available. The first smartphones are introduced, but there are limited uses for online learning with this new technology. The first iPhone is introduced in 2007.

Mid 2010s

Internet users hit 3 billion. 2012 is the year of the MOOC. MOOCs provide cheap, often free access to online courses, mostly self-studies. OLC: 15 million people have taken an online course. U.S. News and World Report begins an online learning ranking system that brings an air of legitimacy to fully online degrees. HTML5 is released, allowing online courses the ability to function with mobile devices more effectively The iPad is introduced in 2010. The age of mobile accessible learning begins.

Present Day

Over 4 billion Internet users. 100+ million people have taken an online course (2019). Most universities have online courses and programs, and many corporations choose online learning and open education online rather than pay high prices for traditional corporate education.

A Tale of Transition and Revelation

Teaching is storytelling and story creation. Before we dive into the meat of the life-cycle of managing an online learning program, I’d like to share a story of transition and revelation.

Way back in the ancient past of the early 2000s, I was teaching English as an adjunct for a CUNY (City University of New York). I’d previously taught English 101, and, my favorite, Short Fiction. One semester, my department chair asked me if I wanted to teach an online course. Being an adjunct and saving for a wedding, I was happy to accept any extra money. But I had never taught online before. In fact, I knew little to nothing about teaching online.

A few days later, I received an email from the information technology (IT) department granting me access to my school’s LMS. I logged in and was excited to see my first “online course” in short fiction. However, when I entered the course shell, there was nothing. No lectures, no notes, no students (yet). I clicked around as much as possible and thought to myself, “Maybe I’m clicking the wrong thing. It must be the technology. I’m just not using it correctly.”

I went to my department chair and explained. She looked at me with a strange look when I said, “How do I teach online?” This was a veteran faculty member with over 30 years of teaching experience and a PhD. ...