The essentials of effective online instruction

Discusses the steps necessary to design an effective online course. Four essential steps are identified and considered: defining course objectives, providing access to information resources, developing and implementing effective learning strategies, and providing timely, context‐specific feedback and motivational support to students. The aim of effective online course design is to produce a network learning environment in which students are able to construct progressively more adequate models of a targeted knowledge domain and acquire competence in using them in real‐life situations. In order to accomplish this aim, technology must be used wisely, in pedagogically sound ways, within the context of a supportive institutional infrastructure, and in a manner that avoids some common obstacles to effective online learning.