The Myth about Online Course Development. - Unit 1

Oblinger, D. & Hawkins, B. (2006). The Myth about online course development. Educause Review Jan/Feb.

The article, The Myth about Online Course Development, takes a look at the history of online course development in order to create a frame to see the future of developing online courses. The bulk of the article poses questions to the reader about what direction is best to take. They make four main points: (1) Educators used to developing traditional courses may benefit from teaming with a person trained in instructional design. (2) Institutions should have a specific and well thought out plan for which courses should be offered online. (3) Instructors need to be sure they are truly developing a learning environment online, instead of merely providing course content. (4) Institutions must also be realistic when analyzing the return they expect from investing in online course development.

Although this article seems to pose more questions then offer specific answers, the authors made one point that really stuck out for me. It is, of course, in the form of a question:

“If a course is simply the equivalent of its content, why are courses not defined by books rather than classrooms and faculty?”