Instructional Design and Technology - How to/Should You Go Online with Your Class

This post is outlining information to help a trainer determine if a class for which they are the instructor would be appropriate as an online class. There are tips to help determine that very thought as well as some tips on how to make the online class and the materials that may/should be used for the online class.

Converting to a Distance Learning Format

Helene A. Smith

Walden University

Dr. Rosemary Dawson

EDUC – 6135 – 1

February 25, 2012

            When converting to a distance learning format from an instructor-led training environment several considerations need to be reviewed.  After reviewing, The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web – part 2 several questions should be answered before proceeding with converting a traditional course to one that is online:

• Is this class appropriate for online?
• If appropriate, what technologies are best?
• Is there easy access to the technologies?
• What is the cost for creating the class/curriculum?
• Was the traditional classroom training, for the course to be implemented on the web, effective?
• Who will be creating the web based version of the traditional course?

(Moller, Foshay, Huett, 2008)

All these questions are important to answer before even beginning a project to create an online version of a traditional class.


Whenever converting material from a traditional setting to an online version some items to review would be:

• Determine if the class will be appropriate for an online setting.
• Does the course need to have a trainer local to convey the message even after the online portion is completed?
• Can the learner understand what needs to be done even to access the online training?
• Is the course designed to be “user friendly”?
• Determine what will it take to develop the course and what materials are needed.
• What materials will be required?
• Who will generate these materials?
• How much time is needed to create the materials?
• Prepare the trainer for how to deliver the material online if there will be live meetings.
• Prepare the learner on how to find the material needed for the course.
• Create a forum for the learner to ask their questions about the material covered.
• How will the question be addressed in the online classroom?
• How will the question be addressed during a live meeting or synchronous training event?

Once you have determined that the class is appropriate for an online version, consider doing the following best practices:

• Quality design of learning materials for different methods.
• Professional design – aesthetically pleasing.
• Utilize different technologies – so many to choose from today.
• Mix up the technologies to keep the interest of the learner.
• Cover all the media available for the online studies and mix them up.
• There are many technologies available, however try not to use too many.
• “Interaction is essential” (p. 172)
• Determine how large of an audience before continuing – do not limit yourself.
• Just because a technology is newer does not make it better.  Sometime the tried and true programs are quite effective.
• Make sure the teachers/trainers know the technologies being utilized.
• Involve all members on the team when developing the program.
• Remember technology is the tool – how do we want the learners to gain the information they need.

(Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012)

Following these best practices will help keep you on course for creating the online curriculum.  The best help I can provide at this point is to remember best practice #12 above – technology is just a tool.  There is several times where I have seen people not be able to function if their computer is down.  We were able to do most of our functions in the past without a computer so you should be able to continue in this vein.  

To help assist in determining what goes into the online version of the training program try organizing the process into the following hierarchy:

• General Goals
• More Specific Goals
• Objective

The trend in distance education is to reduce the amount of information being delivered (i.e. classroom lectures) and increase the amount of interactivity amongst the learners.  What an online class should strive for is interactivity and cooperation between the learners themselves and with the instructor (Simonson, et. al., 2012)

Try to picture the learner when generating your class and you will develop material that the learners will adapt to quickly.  With this adaptation for the learner, adaptation will also be needed of you as the trainer. As a trainer, in the past, you stood in front of a large/medium/small room giving information and the learner hopefully absorbing the information – this role will change.  As a distance trainer a few items will need to change from the traditional setting you have had:

• As a distance trainer you will no longer be able to see the learners’ faces or hear their sounds so if possible try out your “class” on friends or other co-workers before doing it virtually.  See if you can pick up on areas that may be of concern or areas you may be excited about but the audience will not have a reference.
• Make sure you know your material – nothing sounds worse on a live meeting than when someone just reads their presentation.
• Make the presentation sound like you.  The “class” that you are delivering (with a few exceptions) should not need to be word for word from the “deck” you were given.  If you make the presentation in your style people will stay with you on the calls because they know you believe what you are saying.

Some tips to help facilitate communication and learning in the online environment:

• Begin each class session with a quick quiz to see if the leaners understood what was assigned. Depending on the information received adjust the class to review information that needs clarification (Simonson, et. al., 2012).
• Assign reading assignments that are not in the textbook.  When the learners review information outside of the main textbook they hopefully will understand perhaps a different perspective of the information being taught in the class  and thereby retain the information (Simonson, et. al., 2012).
• Communicate your contact information to the learners.  Make sure they know your schedule for office hours.  Send e-mails to the learners if noticing there are issues with their studies.  Show that you care about the learner – if you keep in contact it is more likely that the learner will as well (Piskurich, 2012). 
• Make sure you contribute to any discussion boards where the learners are posting their information (Piskurich, 2012).
• If a synchronous classroom environment, make the learner have to do something with the communication system at different times during the presentation.  Make sure the learners know that they will have to perform a function when something specific happens during the class.  This should keep the learner focused on the class and not multi-tasking on something else in the area where they are “attending” the class (Piskurich, 2012). 
• Use documents that the learners can refer to later to help with some of the required software that needs to be incorporated for the classes.  I have attached a document which gives an example of what I like to refer to as a QRC or Quick Reference Card.  This is a great way to get some information to the learner so later when they need assistance and you may not be available the learner can reference the information for him/her self.