Realizing the Potential of Web-Based Instruction: Lessons Learned

Three years of developing an online course, responding to student needs, technological advances, communication issues, campus policies and politics, and an assortment of other issues taught the authors of this paper many lessons about Web-based instruction at the university. Experience indicated that prior to committing a course to online delivery, four areas should be addressed: philosophy (reasons for pursuing online instruction), student needs, instructional paradigms (matching the appropriate pedagogical model/strategies to the distance learning environment), and preparation/teacher needs. The paper concludes that the delivery of Web-based distance learning is both workable and productive, and that online learning can be superior to that of traditional classroom instruction. (Contains 14 references.) (AEF)