In the OLLIE courses, I look forward to looking at different assessment techniques that will be effective in an online course. In a class like this one (how to develop an online class), assessment is very authentic - we build a course! However, using Moodle to deliver other content will be more challenging in terms of developing meaningful assessment. Teachers taking courses need to be accountable for their learning, but will expect meaningful assessment activities, rather artificial types of assessment that seem like busy work.

I look forward to learning more about this standard during our OLLIE courses. How much direct instructor-student interaction is necessary/appropriate in asynchronous courses? Do best practices dictate that there must be some "face to face" interaction (via Skype or other video chat methods) or would discussions, forums, and e-mail methods only be appropriate?

Using techniques to engage adult learners will be critical for a successful online class. I think that this will require use of a variety of tools, including those that involved audio and video components. Even "content rich" online courses would have difficulty engaging the learner if they only involved reading, web lessons, powerpoints, etc. (without some sort of screencasting, video or audio).

This standard reminds us that aside from providing an engaging, motivating course via techology, educators need to sure that their offerings align with district/student needs. We want to design courses that will impact student learning and achievement.