Education has changed so much in the last 100 years, but the biggest changes have been in the last 10 years.  It used to be that any type of schooling outside of a traditional classroom was looked down on.  In current times, non-traditional types of learning are becoming widely accepted and even encouraged.  Homeschooling is changing to on-line learning and is experienced in both K-12 settings and in upper education and graduate schools.  With the World Wide Web, almost everyone has access to any type of information and course work. 

For an online course to be effective, the class needs to be structured in such a way that the expectations are clear for both the instructor and the students.  An on-line course can have similar expectations as a face to face course, but without the students being able to interact as easily, the on-line course has to arrange for the interaction between students that is needed.  The instructor in an on-line course has almost more requirements than a teacher in a face to face classroom because they do have to facilitate the interaction between students and with the instructor.  To ensure this interaction, it takes plenty of prep work on the part of the instructor or course developer.  There needs to be both formal interactions with discussion boards and a place where there can be more informal interactions between students and the instructor (Durrington, Berryhill, & Swafford, 2006, p. 191).  The course also needs a clear syllabus and rubrics so that will allow students more confidence that they are meeting the requirements of the course.  The instructor also needs to be available to the students through email and message boards.  With the differences between an on-line course and a traditional face to face course, the instructor has to view his role differently.  George Siemens offers many different perspective of what an instructor can be like in the modern educational system (2008).  With the technology available, the instructor does not have to be the traditional lecture, but he can offer opportunities and direct what students need to accomplish to successfully complete the course.  An instructor needs to help students make the connections so that they can take the information on and apply it to other applications (Siemens, 2008). 

An on-line course can be a great opportunity for both students and the instructor.  As the world has changed from face to face communication to digital communication, education has to make the change also.  When there has been adequate and proper planning, an on-line course can allow plenty of interaction between students and the instructor that will allow all involved to be successful.

References

Durrington, V. A., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies for Enhancing Student Interactivity in an Online Environment. College Teaching. doi:10.3200/CTCH.54.1.190-193

Siemens, G. (2008). Learning and Knowing in Networks: Changing roles for educators and designers.