EDER 677 - Telecommunications in Education
Effective Online Instruction
Teaching pedagogy is the first and most important factor in determining effective online instruction. The design and organization of an online course is also equally important, however, the instructor, being the leader that guides the course, holds the key in determining the success or failure of a course. Quitadamo and Brown (2001) support this in their critical essay "Effective Teaching Styles and Instructional Design for Online Learning Environments". They mention that teaching style and instructional design are two factors in effective online instruction. The five teaching styles discussed were:
  1. expert - instructional content design expertise
  2. formal authority - providing learning structure and guidance
  3. personal model - providing a personal example for learning and instructional leadership
  4. facilitator - guiding, questioning, and facilitating student interaction
  5. delegator - cultivating student learning abilities so as to empower student learners to become independent, functional instructional designers
All these styles are important and need to be fully utilized depending on the dynamics of the class. Being aware that this is the case allows the instructor to guide the course in such a way that fits the personality of the class. Online instruction, although relatively new, has the same challenges as face to face instruction. One of those challenges in how to engage the students in thinking critically. Critical thinking is a higher learning process that all instructors strive for. Ragan (1999) proposes in his article "Good Teaching is Good Teaching" that in an online environment instructors must follow certain teaching pedagogy in order to bring out the best in the students. He outlines five categories that promote an active learning environment. The five categories addresses the three major components of an educational event and the support and technology-based issues related to conducting that event. The educational component categories are Learning Goals and Content Presentation, Interactions, and Assessment and Measurement. The enabling categories are Instructional Media and Tools and Learner Support and Services (Ragean, 1999).

Having an understanding of the theory and pedagogy is an important step in my development as an online learner because it gives me an appreciation of what is in the "backend" of this so called "distance learning". This being said, I think in order to be an effective online instructor, one must have experience as an online learner first. By doing this, one can take the good and the bad and develop a style that is one is comfortable with.