This is a guest blog post by Michael Menchaca, grant recipient and project lead developing OER for the LTEC 612 graduate courses at UHM.
Online learning has virtually exploded over the last decade. Within the next few years, nearly every college student and most K-12 students will have experienced some form of online education. As is typical with any type of learning, student experiences in online environments range from exceptional to atrocious. Thus, it is incumbent upon those with both practical and theoretic experience to share their expertise to promote only the best practices for virtual learning.
To that end, there are many books on distance education, including some very good ones. However, there are fewer textbooks that take an Open approach that can be easily adapted and distributed as needed. Thanks to generous funding from the UHM Outreach College, this project will help to fill that gap with easily accessible and a simplified approach to teaching online. In addition to providing a broad overview of distance learning characteristics, theory, and resources, this project will provide specific strategies for delivering instruction in five major areas:
- Hybrid delivery strategies where there is some face-to-face
- Asynchronous delivery strategies
- Synchronous delivery strategies
- Organizing and assessing content, and
- Appropriate mixing of categories
Each chapter will build essential skills incrementally leading to providing expertise to design and implement complex online learning environments. The text is designed to encourage others to connect the information provided to their own interests and areas of control.
Because of the reliance on Open Educational Resources technology, the delivery system also becomes a model for what is learned. Each chapter will also contain case studies about real world solutions in distance course design and implementation.
Project Lead
Dr. Michael Menchaca
Michael Menchaca from the Department of Learning Design and Technology in the College of Education. Dr. Menchaca has over 15 years of online learning and teaching experience. He has helped design, implement and deliver online learning programs at several institutions, including Pepperdine, Sacramento State, and the University of Hawaii. He has authored papers and conducted research in online learning for over 10 years.
