2 Introduction to Online Teaching and Learning

Online learning is the newest and most popular form of distance education today. Within the past decade it has had a major impact on postsecondary education and the trend is only increasing. In this workshop we will explore what the experience of online learning is like for students and how it has changed the role of the instructor.

What is Online Learning?
Online learning is education that takes place over the Internet. It is often referred to as “e-
learning” among other terms. However, online learning is just one type of “distance learning” –
the umbrella term for any learning that takes place across distance and not in a traditional
classroom. Distance learning has a long history and there are several types available today,
including:
 Correspondence Courses: conducted through regular mail with little interaction.
 Telecourses: where content is delivered via radio or television broadcast.
 CD-ROM Courses: where the student interacts with static computer content.
 Online Learning: Internet-based courses offered synchronously and/or asynchronously.
 Mobile Learning: by means of devices such as cellular phones, PDAs and digital audio
players (iPods, MP3 players).
By far the most popular approach today is online learning. According to the Sloan Consortium,
online enrollments continue to grow at rates faster than for the broader student population and
institutes of higher education expect the rate of growth to continue increasing. Some of the key
findings:
 Over 1.9 million students were studying online in the fall of 2003.
 Schools expect the number of online students to grow to over 2.6 million by the fall of 2004.
 Schools expect online enrollment growth to accelerate — the expected average growth rate
for online students for 2004 is 24.8%, up from 19.8% in 2003.
 The majority of all schools (53.6%) agree that online education is critical to their long-term
strategy.
 A majority of academic leaders believe that online learning quality is already equal to or
superior to face-to-face instruction. (The “no significant difference” phenomenon.)
(From: http://www.sloan-c.org/resources/index.asp)