Distance Learning: From Construction to Instruction

• Learn at your own pace.
• Enroll at any time.
• You can complete your courses as fast as necessary but generally, completion is within 4 to 5 months.
• You must have earned a bachelor’s degree if registering for credit.

The goal of this course is to provide participants with a framework of the skills, strategies, and tools necessary for designing, building, and facilitating a fully online or blended learning experience for students of all levels, identities, backgrounds, and beliefs. The course begins with a focus on the shifting mindset, qualities, and skills required of teachers transitioning from a traditional classroom to an online or blended classroom, and an exploration of the Digital Divide and its implications and impact on students in this new learning environment.

Participants will take this foundation through the remainder of the course as they examine strategies and tools for designing the structure, content, assessment strategy, and interactions that make up an effective online or blended classroom. Throughout the course, participants will also be asked to reflect on their prior experience and apply the concepts and skills they learn to improve and adapt current practices for the online and blended learning environments.

Participants will build out critical components of what will become their online or blended classroom, justifying the tools and strategies they choose to employ. These tasks will demonstrate the participant’s knowledge of the various strategies and resources explored throughout the course and leave them well on their way to the creation of an effective online or blended environment.