Getting faculty and instructors into online learning

I mentioned in an earlier post that we don’t always do a very good job in helping people new to the field of online learning to understand what is already well known in the field. As a consequence, errors are made and wheels are re-invented or discovered. To some extent, this is inevitable. We learn better by doing than being told, but it can also lead to frustration or people just giving up. (“I tried online learning once, and it was terrible.”)

Now the best solution of course is to get them to read my online, open textbook, ‘Teaching in a Digital Age‘, which is a guide to teaching and learning online. But it’s over 500 pages long, so how to get them started in the first place, how to help them get rid of the hoary old myths, so that they are interested enough to take it seriously and start learning properly about online learning?

To do this, I’m going to run a series of short blog posts which I was tempted to call ‘Online Learning for Dummies’, after the very successful series of ‘how to’ books. However, I don’t think this title would go down well with faculty and instructors, so I’m going to call the posts ‘Online Learning for Beginners.’ Think of it as similar to Playboy or 50 Shades of Gray for teenagers, to be read and hidden under the bed before they go on a real date. (Although I promise you, these posts won’t be nearly as much fun).

Each post will be short – less than 800 words – and can be read in less than 10 minutes. But there will be quite a lot of them:

1. What is online learning? (A definition)
2. Isn’t online learning worse than face-to-face teaching?
3. Aren’t MOOCs online learning?
4. What kinds of online learning are there?
5. When should I use online learning?
6. How do I start? Who can help me?
7. Why not just record my lectures?
8. But won’t online learning be more work?
9. What can I do for myself? (Each a separate blog)
   • get help from professionals/experienced colleagues
   • sources (books, journals, conferences)
   • courses
   • start small (blended)
   • nine steps to quality online learning

You could call this the nine or ten myths – or mythteries – of online learning. I know this kind of thing has been done before (but not by me) but it probably needs to be done over and over again as new people are always arriving at the door.

Now for most of my regular readers, this will be boring stuff, things you already know, but what I’d like you to do is to gently direct these posts in front of faculty or instructors who are currently hostile to online learning or are nervous about taking the plunge, and especially to those who have already jumped in without their shorts on. And I suggest you don’t pass on this particular post to faculty!

However, as always, your advice, suggestions and downright criticisms are always welcome.