Essay Sample on Online Courses: Gaining Fame with Tech Advances

Online courses are gaining fame with the advent of technology. As many people are gaining access to the internet, most of the activities are shifting online. This fact has led to many businesses being affected. One of the activities greatly affected by these changes in education acquisition. Many courses are in the process of development to enable people to acquire knowledge when they are online. This calls for the development of effective and efficient courses that will meet the needs of those involved. To create an effective course, several guidelines and designs should be put in place, which include appropriate technology, qualified instructors, and developed assessment tools. This is discussed in the paragraphs below.

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Appropriate technology develops an interactive environment between learners and instructors. Systems such as learning management should be applied to increase the accessibility of the course by the students. Internet availability will enable students to access learning materials from any place they may be. Parents will easily monitor the learning of their children taking online courses. They can even interact with the instructors using web conferencing tools. This will assist them in checking the completion of assignments, attendance of their children, and even their progress through established frameworks.

Skilled instructors enable sufficient passage of knowledge to the students through good interaction. It is essential since the absence of face-to-face interaction may pause a significant challenge in the student interaction with the tutor. The lack of personal touch may eliminate valuable learning aids such as time delay and body language (Wolfson, et al., 2014). The instructor should manage all the instructions passed to ensure that they achieve the intended objectives. The instructions should be easily uderstood by the students to ensure active learning. The students should follow all the instructions given by their tutors, which calls for the employment of qualified tutors.

Developed assessment tools facilitate the gauging of student progress. The assessment gives a clear picture of the understanding of the concepts taught. A proper evaluation focuses on critical areas of the course that students should take a keen interest in. The students and the instructors should easily access the assessment tools. Assessment assists instructors in evaluating whether they are teaching important concepts. The students are graded based on their learning ability, and their progress can be monitored through continuous assessments. This will motivate performance between both parties.

Several requirements are needed to enable effective online learning. There should be rules put in place for the effective delivery of online content. These rules are discussed in the paragraphs below.

Online learning should be learner-based. There should be a clear demonstration of the understanding of the concepts taught during the course (Marmon, et al., 2013). This can be achieved in one way, by connecting the knowledge passed on with the real-world experience.

The instructors should encourage inquiry from the students, which will bring about an understanding of concepts brought forward. This will enable students to understand unfamiliar concepts, as they formulate questions concerning the concept put forward, which will then assist instructors in knowing the key areas to emphasize. There should also be improved interaction between the students and the instructors. The instructors should develop an interactive environment through platforms such as email, discussion boards, group phone calls, and video conferencing applications.

The structure developed should be clear and consistent. A lot of information passed to the learners within a short period may be overwhelming, and even lower learner&#39s morale. The learning materials should be easily accessible, and assignments easily submitted (Meyer & Murrell, 2014). Students should also have clear expectations of what instructors expect of them at the end of the study. The learning theory adopted ought to focus on the best improvement of the students while comparing various methods of learning, such as behaviorism, cognitive theory, and constructivism.

Behaviorism theory focuses on learners' conduct. It explains learning as a change in behavior occasioned by alteration in external conditions. Social cognitive theory is based on the alteration of old information because of acquiring new knowledge. The information is first stored in the conscious mind, which is short-term memory. When the data is persistent, it is moved to the subconscious mind, which is the long-term memory. This theory tends to be learner dependent.

The theory of constructivism explains learning as trying to view the world in a more constructive perspective. This is an active approach, which involves much of mental effort. It involves thinking and trying to come up with constructive meaning. This makes knowledge acquisition complex, contextualized, and authentic. The approach tends to be useful as it actively involves the students.

Effective online courses should be developed in practical ways, focusing more on delivering the objectives and utilization of online tools available. The developer should identify the relevant ways of designing and implementing online courses. The technology used should be easily used and accessible by the learners and the tutors. Students are the epicenter of all activities involved in the online courses. The course should be student-centered, focusing on identifying the skills of students and developing them. The instructors should be skilled in delivering the content to the students since online learning tends to be more difficult as compared to classroom learning. This will lead to efficient online courses that will deliver the best for the students involved.

References

Marmon, M., Gordesky, J., & Vanscoder, J. (2013, October). Online student satisfaction: an examination of preference, asynchronous course elements, and collaboration among online students. In E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 380-386). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

Meyer, K. A., & Murrell, V. S. (2014). A national study of theories and their importance for faculty development for online teaching. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 17(2), 1-15.

Wolfson, N. E., Cavanagh, T. M., & Kraiger, K. (2014). Older adults and technology-based instruction: Optimizing learning outcomes and transfer. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 13(1), 26-44.