Things you should know before teaching a Web-based class
By: Susan Bond

Everyone knows what classroom teachers do, but teachers in an electronic classroom need special preparation before beginning their instruction. They must know what their students have in common. In instructional design terms, these are known as entry level characteristics. Research has shown that knowing these characteristics prior to delivering the class can help the instructor tailor material to the learner and achieve better results.

What do Web-based learners have in common?

General learner entry level characteristics can be gender, age, or education. Learners may be coming to the course from different directions, but they all have these general characteristics in common.

What skills to the students bring to the class?

Learners must have specific entry-level skills prior to taking part in the educational offering. They must have prior knowledge, or experience, to get the most from their Web-based learning experience. For example, if a Web-based course was covering upper-level accounting, the pre-requisite would be Excel or training in spreadsheets. Teachers can give surveys or similar assessment tests before beginning a Web-based class. An online survey can be used to perform this assessment, showing their ability to navigate and manage the inventory.

How do the students learn?

Tailoring materials to a student’s preferred learning style is the subject of much academic research. Learning styles show how students take in information. For example, they could be visual learners or kinetic learners. Some may even learn through exploration. With Web-based learning, it‘s not always possible to meet the needs of specific learning styles, but adaptability is possible.

Do an assessment inventory!

Entry level characteristics of learners in Web-based classes can be determined through an inventory. This assessment inventory can be done via a computer survey, a written test, or even with personal interviews. These inventories should include all types of questions and require a variety of skills. These assessment tools should be thorough, but not exhaustive. Learners should be able complete them in ten minutes or less.

Of course, not all learning styles can be reasonably accommodated. Web-based learning does have its limitations. As long as the learner realizes his or her limitations and how that will influence outcomes, there should be no dissatisfaction in the end.

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Susan Bond is a part of IQity, provider of a top-rated www.iq-ity.net“>Learning Management System for schools seeking to teach courses online. IQity‘s LMS includes an online study guide for the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT). Ohio teachers can add a product review of www.ogtpractice.org“>OGT practice tools and help other teachers.

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