Outcome of the Special Topic Discussion

At the end of the my special topic presentation we talked about different universities converting F2F course to online course: What would be the correct methodology to apply when converting a traditional course to an online setting?

I believe, as some of my fellow students mentioned, we should conduct a needs assessment or some initial planning and analysis on the part of the instructional designer. We should determining whether it is feasible to convert the course to an online one. If it is suitable, there may revisions and updates required. We should not forget the stakeholders and their interests. In addition, we need to do a task analysis to assist in implementing the best instructional strategy. I think, it is important to understand the learner characteristics in the analysis phase. Last, but not least, it is crucial to determine the financial constraints involved in converting the course to online. Of course, the best way to do this would be to create a budget.

Another important requirement is the need to provide instructor and student support for teaching and learning in this new environment. If the instructor does not have the necessary support, it is almost certain the conversion initiative will not be successful. Other issues to take into consideration are the content to be included, the level of interactivity (to ensure active and engaging learning), and ways to incorporate constructive learning techniques for the learner.

In essence, the analysis phase of instructional design may be the most important part of an online conversion project. Also, instructional designers should be highly cognizant of the instructor’s new role as a facilitator in the online environment and include support for the instructor in the design phase of the conversion project.

To be precise to get the endevour going I would target following three sectors. Some of them require more budget allocation some don't:

1. Provide Incentive:
- Pay raise or bonus is a perfect incentive.
- Other low-cost incentives would include recognition.
- Those who will convert their courses to DE will have guarantee to continue with their
courses longer period of time (i.e. they will have some kind of job security and
ownership of the courses they have built).

2. Provide Training:
- In addition to attending the in-house training I would urge Instructors to attend
college where Distance Education courses are taught. And, they will be
fully reimbursed. These courses will make many instructors interested in DE and
fear-factor will be eliminated to some extent.

3. Provide Assistance:
-Promise to provide FIT to those who will adopt DE.
-Allocate hours of in-house technical support specifically for DE courses.