ABSTRACT
More and more universities are offering their courses online. A 2009 report by the Sloan Consortium reported that more than one in four higher education students now take at least one course online. According to the report, the growth rate over the previous year for online enrollments was 17% compared with 1.2% for in-person instruction. 3 Courses can be taught fully online (the students and teacher never meet in person); as hybrids (where some of the class session meet in person and some weeks the meetings are online); and fully in person (but with online tools used to supplement the course). Although there are differences between teaching in person and online (which I will explain in this chapter), most of what makes for a well-planned class, good syllabus, and a didactic learning experience in the classroom also applies to the online environment.
