Going Online: Uploading Learning to the Virtual Classroom

The rapidly increasing number of Web-based courses and degrees has sparked renewed interest in distance education. Educational institutions and private companies are moving to online delivery. The number and variety of Web-based courses and programs is escalating at a frenetic pace as providers compete to capture market share. Marketing of online learning is carefully framed as delivering educational opportunities to students at locations and times of their convenience, enabling them to cultivate responsibility for their own learning. In fact, offering online courses may be a crucial factor in the survival of modern educational institutions. But as the number of online courses increases, the challenges in their development and delivery become more apparent. Initially, universities simply repackaged face-to-face course materials and posted them to a Web site. But as demand increased, the approaches to online course development became more sophisticated, and a set of best practices emerged to guide the design and delivery of online education.