Blogs > Cliopatria > Teaching History Courses Online

Nov 18, 2008

Teaching History Courses Online


by Cliopatria


More and more history courses are being taught online, especially at two-year colleges. It remains to be seen whether faculty will adjust to or resist this change. If you are interested in this trend, and thinking of becoming involved, I suggest you consider the below questions. You will want to find answers to these questions before you take the plunge and become an online instructor.

What software and hardware do you need on your computer to teach an online course?

What technical skills are necessary, for both you and your students, when starting an online course?

How much will you get paid for teaching the course?

Will the college pay you a development fee for creating the content for the online course?

Do students find online courses easier than regular courses, or simply more flexible and convenient?

What is the enrollment cap for your online course?

How will your course be advertised?

How will you handle book orders (textbooks at the bookstore) if some of the students in your course live several hours away from your campus?

How much time and money will it take for the students who live far away and are not within driving distance of the campus bookstore to obtain the required texts for your online course?

Will you assign your students to use an online textbook that is available for free, such as Hypertext History by Steven Mintz?

Will your students be required to receive training or orientation before they enroll in your online course?

Do you know the difference between asynchronous communication and synchronous communication in an online course?

How much control will the college give you in designing the content and curriculum for your course?

How will you grade the participation level of students in your online course?

Can you expect that students in your online course can produce a research paper if you are not in the classroom, working with them face-to-face, teaching them the process of research and writing?

What kinds of assignments work best in online courses?

How much discussion do you need to facilitate in an online course?

How will you administer exams in your online course, especially since you cannot be in the same room as your students when they are taking an exam?

Which takes more time: teaching a regular face-to-face course or teaching an online course?

Which course management system will you be required to use, such as WebCT, Blackboard, or D2L?

Will the college allow you to use a content management system (like Wordpress, Moodle, Drupal, or Joomla!) that is open-source and offers more functionality?

Do you have a blog that you could use to communicate with the students in your online class?

How much support will the IT Department at your college offer as you prepare and teach your online course?

Will there be a mentor available who can help you on an individual basis?

Will your college offer free training to help you and others learn the methods and policies of creating and running online courses?

Who will own the intellectual property rights to the online course you design and develop?

Will teaching an online course count as professional development or help you get a job or tenure?


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More Comments:

Sterling Fluharty - 1/28/2009

Thanks for sharing these thoughts. I agree we teach in the shadow of the past and yet we are not bound by it. I hope we will make the best of it.

vaughn davis bornet - 1/9/2009

I wish I could give reactions based on experience. I have none. I last taught in or around 1980. I possess the full package of education and experience, however.

Reading this most interesting essay, and finding the Outline course in American History recommended as a Start, I was greatly stimulated, pro and con and imaginatively.

I couldn't find the bibliography (but it must be there). I couldn't find much if anything about the Qualifications of the professor who is going to tackle this. (There did seem to be a build-in assumption that he/she was a beginner or lowly on the totem pole, however; otherwise, it appeared in the assumption, he/she wouldn't be worrying about theft of one's outline and innovations.

Do I understand that in these courses as presently taught all over the place there is constant interaction between teacher and student on the subject matter? I suppose there is intended to be. All are hopeful. But IS there really give and take?

In the past, I have to say, there was interaction before, during, and after in my small classes at Emory and Georgia. There wasn't much when I was auditing huge lecture courses in the Auditorium at Stanford, enjoying largely vicarious "contact" with the Great Man as he talked on and on. (One might, of course, be his assistant, so he could spare a few moments a week for ME. Not the mass of students.

What I am suggesting is that while I seem all too willing to be high hat about comparing Yesterday with an Age of Internet Instruction, I had better pull back. Just how much Interaction did we REALLY have back then?

And, may it be said, How much did we seek out, that is, want, back then? Would those famous professors have been only too delighted to share of themselves IF we had shared of ourselves? I wonder.

Anyway, maybe some young professor in waiting will read what I have written hastily this AM and think about it--and not be too apologetic about the new Internet-based teaching. Don't assume, I am saying, that you can't possibly match up to The Past. You can! (Maybe....)

Vaughn Davis Bornet Ashland, Oregon
Emeritus, Southern Oregon University, and for two years University of Miami, and Navy instructor, etc.