How to convert a face to face course to online

As I have been preparing for the launch of my first fully online course in March 2013, I have been reflecting on my experience. Some of those reflections involve the early discussions I had with colleagues as we discussed the process of taking our master's degree program online. Anytime the topic of online course creation came up, the discussion was framed around the idea of converting our face to face courses to online courses. But as I have been working (in a rather compressed time frame; my course has to be ready February 4, 2013), I have realized that the idea of course conversion is not as simple a task as I initially thought.

My first approach was to take my syllabus and adapt it to the format we will be utilizing for our online program (7 week terms online, from 14 week terms face to face).  Some faculty suggested it's just like teaching in our longer summer term, which is an 8 week term.  But, the more I have immersed myself into familiarizing myself with online teaching and learning, the more I am seeing that there might not be a direct one for one conversion.

The amount of forethought required for online teaching is one distinguishing characteristic that make the idea of course conversion null.  When I prepare for a new face to face course, I generally construct the syllabus by thinking about the topics I want to cover, choose the readings that I feel will address those topics, and then develop assignments that will hopefully help me assess students' understanding of those topics. Developing an online course has helped me realize that the focus needs to be on desired outcomes (learning outcomes). I wrote a set of learning outcomes, which I had for the face to face course,but then I went a step further and developed learning outcomes for each course module. With the learning outcomes for each module in mind, I have thought much more critically about the assigned readings. I can no longer choose the reading because it addresses a topic in broad terms. Instead, I have to choose a reading because it addresses one or more of the learning outcomes for that particular module.

Anything I read or hear about asynchronous online learning suggests that there be a graded assignment for each module.  This is a change from my face to face courses, where I generally have a few assignments scattered throughout the semester, with one big term paper at the end.  Well, a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (chronicle.com) title Let's Kill the Term Paper (http://bit.ly/TbZklM) really has me thinking differently about that term paper approach.  Before going further with assignments, there is an important question to ponder: who is likely to be attracted to an online (especially graduate) program?  Someone already working in the field. My intention is for students to see a connection between each assignment and real-world application in the field. My plan for designing assignments is as follows:

1. Assessment of module/course learning outcomes. We still need to ensure that students are able to demonstrate learning.
2. Assessment of broader learning outcomes. Term papers are often justified by faculty because they promote critical thinking.  We can do that through other types of assignments.
3. Connection to practice. As mentioned above, my intention is for students to see the connection of the assignment to application in practice.

These have been my first steps in "converting" my face to face course to an online format.  It has been more of a rethinking and retooling than a conversion. I used to be against online teaching and learning, primarily because I didn't understand it. The more I learn about online, the more excited I am becoming about the possibilities. As I work on prepping for my face to face Spring 2013 courses, I am thankful that I am having this experience with prepping for the March 2013 online launch. If someone who works full-time can complete a course in 7 weeks, imagine what someone with a graduate assistantship can do in 14 weeks!

In my next post about online teaching, I will be sharing some resources that I've come across with a brief writeup of initial impressions. There are so many tech tools on the Web to support online teaching and learning, it can be a bit overwhelming.