Designing Collaborative E-Learning For Results

Click here to view full article (By Glen Mohr and Julia M. Nault)
"Because we can communicate by email and over the Web, we no longer need to meet face to face. The more connected we are, the more isolated we are. The connectivity/isolation paradox is manifesting itself in many aspects of our professional and personal lives and is a fundamental reason why e-learning programs can be unsatisfying to instructors and learners."

Critical Success Factors

• Manage expectations.
• Create a common base of knowledge before the course starts. This may consist of new readings/exercises or refreshers of previous ones.
• Make it extremely clear how and when participants will communicate.
• Demonstrate the technology at the outset and reinforce throughout the course. Do not let anyone slip through the cracks.
• Make synchronous sessions highly interactive.
• Let students generate the data and examples used in the course. Include a collaborative project.
• Bring closure to the material and provide a plan for next steps. "