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Strategic Planning and Trends in Online Education

Pedagogical Concerns ~ Approaches to Course Design and Constructivism and Behaviorism

Problems within Learning Communities

How works accreditation for online educational programs

How The Course Content Has to Be Organized

Privacy and Security ~ How to create a safe learning environment

Asynchronous and Synchronous Communication and Activities in Online Education

The Teacher`s Role as Facilitator in Online Education

Honesty and Ethics in the Classroom

Benefits and Advantages of Online Education

Tasks for Online Teachers

When and How to Gather New Materials for The Online Course

Online education ~ Developing an Individual Course

Although not appreciated or exploited by early versions of e-learning, many people feel that the use of the Internet as a tool for learning lends itself very well to these features of active learning:

When some people look at the Internet, they see it as a way to deliver instruction.

When other people look at it, they see a huge database for students to explore.

When I look at the Internet, I see a new medium for construction, a ne opportunity for students to discuss, share and collaborate on constructions.

It is clear that the second and, especially, the third of these views of the role of the Internet in learning have active learning and the idea that learners should be, and can be, active participants in their own learning at their core. Indeed, from the whole range of 'features of online learning that Joh Stephenson argues 'should be of particular interest to teachers and learners', we might pick out a good number which particularly lend themselves to encouraging and enabling the e-learners to take the active, involved, approach to their learning, namely:

• easy access to and interrogation of high volumes of diverse learning resources ...;

• dialogue: teacher-student, student-student, specialist closed groups, open groups, in real time (synchronous) or over a period of time (asynchronous), one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many;

• routine recording of all... threads of discussions, and development of argument;

• access to a range of personal support by email with tutor and mentors, or through specialist or peer discussion groups;

• ease of navigation to sources and persons... according to the interests and needs of the learner; and

• opportunities for working 'live1 in collaboration with others from anywhere in the world.

The interesting thing about all of the foregoing, the factor which above all enables active involvement of learners within their learning as well as merely encouraging such an attitude, is, as Stephenson argues, the fact that e-learning also has the potential to allow learners to control all of the features we have listed from their own computer. Increased access to the Internet at home and in the workplace makes this a viable and versatile mode of learning and relatively easy to access. In addition, when e-learners have as much access to information as their e-tutors, when they have the responsibility to manage their own work and time to fit their learning into a busy working week in a manner that is sensitive to the needs of other e-learners with whom they are collaborating, then it is inevitable that the roles of 'learner' and 'tutor' will change and evolve. If the aim is to encourage the learners to take greater control over and responsibility for their learning it stands to reason that the role of the tutor, while still important, will become more facilitative and less directive or prescriptive in nature.

Of course, opportunity alone is not enough; learners will not automatically know what the online environment has to offers, nor will they necessarily see these features as opportunities that offer advantages to them in their learning. Many students are concerned about working online. They see reduced social contact in learning contexts as a real threat. They are anxious about the lack of stimulus and fun from their 'buddies' and on the potential loss of a special relationship with their teachers, trainers and professors. Somehow, without them, a little magic seems lost!

So, the Internet offers opportunities for active learning, but learners have to be guided in order that they adapt to the new context if they are to benefit from it. As well as being supported while gaining the confidence to communicate online, which Gilly Salmon terms 'online socialization an important part of any online learning experiences will be activities designed to develop their awareness of the new context and the ways in which it compares with their previous learning experience. They have to understand the roles and functions that will be expected of them, appreciate the opportunities that are open to them and find ways to address the challenges they will face.