Title: Course Introduction
Course: Certificate in Online Education

Course Introduction

This course is about distance education defined as planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from classrooms, requiring special techniques of course design and instruction, communication through various technologies, and special organizational and administrative arrangements.

The history of distance education is closely related to the evolution of different communications technologies, but it covers much more than technology. It focuses primarily on teaching, learning and all the pedagogic issues as well as administrative and policy issues associated with teaching and learning.

This course will work with Moodle course management system encouraging discussion and activities outside of the formal learning environment. All course materials are placed on Moodle and mainly include communication (discussion board, chat room, e-mail) and module content (course outlines, lecture notes, additional resources).

Participants will have the opportunity to create course content, explore online and blended applications for elearning using an open source learning management system and practice with Web tools such as blogs and wikis as well as search tools, surveys, quizzes, and discussion systems.

The emphasis is on what to use in teaching right now, how to convert traditional courses and how to use Web-based components to enhance face-to-face instruction.

How the course works

The course can be taken in one of 2 modes, online only or blended. In either case the course should take place over a full semester and the approximate workload will be 100 hours, which included the time needed to develop your course materials.

Blended Mode

The first 4 topics will take place during a 3-5 day face to face workshop before the semester starts. During the semester you will work online through the next 4 topics (focused on the practical aspects of Moodle), followed by a final 2 day face to face workshop at the end of the semester, after your course has been presented.

Online Mode

The whole course will take place online only, with no face to face workshops or sessions. A facilitator will guide you through the course.

The assessment criteria is exactly the same no matter which mode you take the course.