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Not all instruction is appropriate for completely online. The teacher will have to decide when or what parts of the lesson can be delivered online (video, recording, etc.) and when it should be delivered F2F. Sometimes activites and discussions are better suited for F2F. While videos, quizzes, forums, etc., can be all delivered online.

Formative and summative assessments are important to see if students understand the material. If the assessments show students aren't understanding, then adjustments, such as reteaching, can be made to help students to understand.

This particular point is important in that instructors should include formative checks for understanding along the way. There is certainly a need for this in an online course.

This is definitely needed to help guide students and teachers with their learning.  Especially in online learning when teachers do not see their students each day.  Quality formative assessments help check to see if students are learning what they need to learn.

I think getting feedback from my students will be very important. When I finally teach a fully online course, I know I will make mistakes and hearing from my students what work and what doesn't will be very important!

Yes, course evaluations are helpful to determine new approaches and reflect on what is working well and what needs improvement.

You also have to create a culture in which the feedback is constructive so that you can improve instead of just "the link doesn't work" or "this is dumb".

It is important to demonstrate this if we expect the students to also follow ethical standards and practices.

Totally agree, Rick. We have to model what we expect.

This seems to be exactly what we are trying to do. The collaboration component of the class should provide all of us with a lot of different ideas, websites, and critiques that will save us time and effort. This is a tremendous asset.

I appreciate the use of the term "appropriate", often times technology is selected because it's the new thing, not because it's what is most appropriate for your outcome....

I agree with you about the appropriate use of technology. It must be used with a specific purpose. When technology is overused / inappropriately used students get burned out on it just like any other teaching strategy.

I agree with you as well...it's not necessarily a good idea to use technology simply for the sake of using technology and a teacher can go overboard and use it too much. For example in a HS setting it could get annoying if every teacher was having students participate in a blog.

In the class I am currently taking, there have been several discussions that discuss not only "what" we teach but "why" we are teaching it. I really enjoy learning about technology myself and enjoy integrating it into my curriculum; however, I think that we need to remember that many of these resources are tools for our toolkit. They are not meant to the be the staple of the classroom. Stan, you gave a great example with blogs. Teachers need to remember that is it just as hard for students to remember different logins and passwords, especially if they have different ones for different classes. I myself do not like it when my usual username/password combination has to be altered; it is inevitable that I will forget it or lose where I wrote it down. It will be interesting to see how the next couple of years change with professional development and how they work to buffer the gap among teachers with their comfort level in technology.

I too am curious as to what type of technology the students would like to use in their "moodle" assignments.

As being 'newer' to all the on-line tools, I think this is where we have to pull in our 'experts' and be able to tell them what we need the tool to do and then get their feedback/have a discussion about what tool will best help meet our needs.

I like this one...the right tech for the right learning outcome. We have been working at Kent State to define purposes and rationales for Web 2.0 tools. So when is a wiki the best choice vs. a blog. Is mandatory number of postings in a threaded discussion more likely to lead to higher order critical thinking and or engagement and dialogue in on online environment. Is there really a Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and beyond and what difference does it make? Does online interaction lead to different outcomes than face to face? It is nice to get past the novelty and consider the function and intentionally select the right tool for the right experience.

I think this is very important, but yet also poses a challenge to online instructors. We do need to be able to choose the appropriate tools. The challenge (but a good one) comes in keeping up with the new and improved options that become available in this rapidly changing environment.

Appropriate tools will help with clarity and assignment directions. However, one of the better tools for distance learning is the ability to do screencasting so screens can be shared when more technical help is needed. Trying to explain how to do something can be very frustrating to a learner, when showing him/her would be a much better approach - screencasts.

I agree Toy, screencasts are very helpful for clarifying how to do something online. I am looking forward to learning how to use a screencast tool myself and believe it will make more efficient and effective use of my time. Currently I type up directions step-by-step..which takes way too much time and increases the chances of error. Screencasts make sense!

The number of potential tools for incorporating in online instruction seem limitless. I'm amazed at what is available, yet also deterred by the time it takes to locate quality resources that i envision helping me engage learners in more rigorous inquiry and achievement.