Conclusion

More and more history instructors are being asked toteach online courses. Yet many fear that with the huge amount of course preparation, the lack of face-to-face contact, the intensive use of discussion boards, and the constant emailing of students that they will spend more of their time teaching online courses than traditional ones and with less rewarding results for both teacher and students. There certainly are many challenges in providing a history course online, but a well-designed and administered course can alleviate the demands on teachers and produce an exciting and gratifying learning experience for students. What is a well-designed and administered online course?

The course should be student centered. The students must be encouraged to work with the multiple history resources available on the World Wide Web, to utilize some of the many online learning tools, and to engage in varied forms of assessments. The online environment is ideal for facilitating active learning, letting students pursue their own interests, and meeting all learning styles.

The instructor needs to encourage student-to-student collaboration. By organizing collaborative activities among online students, students break free of the social isolation experienced online and contribute to the knowledge sharing taking place.

Although online methods change teaching, traditional teaching qualities and techniques still remain important. Instructors need a strong grasp of the subject matter, to hold the students to high standards, a passion for teaching and learning, good organizational skills and a caring approach to those they teach.

Teacher-to-student communication is vital for student success. Teachers must personalize the online experience and provide frequent feedback and encouragement to the students.

The course requires substantial offline backup for students. Students often become distracted, disheartened or frustrated when taking online courses, partly because of the lack of assistance offline. An online orientation ought to be required and technical help, counseling and academic assistance readily available.

There is no need to completely abandon the face-to-face classroom for the online environment. The best of online elements such as the discussion board and interactive technology can be added to the dynamic nature of the traditional classroom.