As the world of education changes and distance learning becomes more prevalent as the classroom of tomorrow, growing pains are being experienced. Those in charge are groping with how to handle the ever-changing classroom and those who teach within the expanding online walls.

One of the things that administrators are trying to cope with is teacher training and creating policy for it in relation to teaching via distance. When teaching via distance first came into being, traditional classroom teachers were stepping in and teaching courses just as they had in the past. It was soon discovered that the two classrooms were vastly different. The traditional classroom started and ended at a specific time with the teacher standing in front of the room talking and giving information to the students. In an online course, the student takes a more active role in their learning environment.

Given just this one example, the two classrooms are very different in nature. Therefore, the teaching style is very different from each other. For this reason, administrators need to create policy in order to assure that those teaching distance courses are qualified and comfortable in doing so to assure success of the students taking the course.

What constitutes policy in teacher training in distance education? This is hard to define as evidenced by the fact that there has been very little policy written in South Dakota that addresses this. South Dakota schools are struggling with issues such as training, experience and pay as distance education grows by leaps and bounds within the state. The best that is being done at this point in time is to assure that teachers teaching via distance receive the best possible training to effectively deliver their courses.

Online teaching is not for everyone. A good training program will not only help a teacher develop the skills needed to teach online, but will also allow them to discover if online teaching is for them or not. Successful teachers need to be taught the following skills in order to have successful classrooms.

First of all is how to deal with expectations – teacher to student expectations as well as student to teacher expectations. The teacher must clearly communicate their objectives to their students because of the distance between the instructor and the student. In the distance classroom this might be stated as "By the end of the unit or by the end of the week". The assignments and objectives need to be identified in several different places within the course itinerary. Some students feel that since the course is via distance, due dates are more flexible than in a traditional classroom. It needs to be clearly communicated what happens when assignments are late and objectives are not met.

Communication is another component which is vastly different from the face to face classroom. Even though the instructor is not physically in the room, the students still have a need to be listened to and to receive feedback. Students who feel disconnected due to a lack of instruction and communication tend to achieve less and express dissatisfaction with the course. (2000, Virginia Tech) Effective communication within an online course can be achieved by the doing the following.

First of all, do not spend time answering questions that others can answer. An environment should be created among the students that is supportive of each other so that they begin to ask each other questions.

Secondly, an instructor needs to be proactive in their approach in developing their course. As stated before, expectations need to be clearly defined at the beginning of the course and clearly spelled out. Many emails come from students that are unsure of what is expected of them. If expectations are redundant and placed in multiple places in the design of the course, students will have fewer questions and thus fewer emails for the instructor to deal with. They will be able to problem solve the answers to their questions by finding them on the course website.

In conjunction with this issue is grades. Students want grades readily available to them and to know where they are located. If this is clearly communicated in the beginning of the course, again there will be fewer emails to deal with.

Next an instructor needs to communicate with the group as a whole versus individually. If one student has a question, chances are others do too. The instructor can handle this by emailing everyone or by having a discussion board in place. A frequently asked question spot on the instructor’s website might help do away with multiple questions regarding the same topic.

Online learners can be easily frustrated and need to know upfront what support system is available to them to utilize during the course. The instructor needs to know how to set up a complete support system for the students. This involves setting up library services and how the distance student accesses them. Also, technical support needs to be arranged for and developed for the student.

Make sure that the students have easy access to support sites, links, email addresses and phone numbers that they may need to make their online learning experience successful. Having tutorials on the website would be beneficial to the students to do those one-time components such as downloading NetMeeting or plug-ins that may be needed.

Even though no one is sitting in the same room with each other, the classroom is still a classroom and the students need to feel like they are within a classroom. When students are physically in the same room they tend to navigate toward each other and communicate with each other. Even though the students are physically far from their instructor they still need to feel like a cohesive group.

The instructor can create this feeling by doing several things. First of all is to develop curriculum that requires student collaboration. This can be achieved by group projects or requiring daily or weekly postings to a discussion board; not only their responses. They also need to respond to their classmates’ postings; much as if they were responding to a classmate verbally when in a traditional classroom whereby they are in the same room.

A second way to do this is to email students frequently and to encourage the students to email each other. It is also important that the responses to the students’ emails be done within a reasonable amount of time. Too much time causes a feeling of frustration within the student. When emailing a student back feedback regarding an assignment a general rule is that is should be done within 24 hours of the student submitting the work. Even if a full response cannot be given, at least acknowledgment of the assignment should be sent. (Kearsley)

At the beginning of the course it is helpful to have the students share a biography about themselves. This can be done via email or it can be an assignment that is done on the webboard. This helps the students and the instructor know the demographics of those enrolled within the course.

Teachers need to understand that interactivity is the key to a successful online course. The more interaction students have with the content, the instructor and each other (especially the later), the better. Assignments must be developed so that students interact with each other and the instructor. This can be in terms of sharing ideas, providing critical analysis; comparing results, and suggesting improvements. (Kearsley)

It is important for the instructor to understand the students that are taking the course. In a traditional classroom, the instructor probably has been teaching in the school for a number of years and knows the students, the students families, who they are related to, etc. That is not the case in a distance classroom. Distance learners all need to have some of the same characteristics. Those characteristics are:

• Good time management skills
• Good problem solving abilities
• Independent learners with a great deal of self-motivation
• Need to be able to take the initiative in asking questions of the instructor
• Be able to understand expectations (2000, Virginia Tech Handbook)

Not all students are going to have these skills. The online instructor has to be able to determine which are lacking and help the student achieve them.

Synchronous & Asynchronous:

Both forms of interaction need to be utilized within an online classroom. Some people prefer the synchronous communication, which involves chats or conferencing. Others prefer asynchronous forms such as emails or bulletin boards. There needs to be a mix so that all students feel comfortable within the classroom. Teachers need to be trained in all modes of interaction.

Online teaching requires instructors to rethink their teaching methods, it does not have to require the radical change that some people think needs to occur to teach online. A course, any course can be taken and adapted to being taught online. The learning outcomes might be the same as in the traditional classroom, but a new learning environment needs to be developed in order for the remote learner to achieve these outcomes.

If teacher training addresses the above mentioned characteristics, the students as well as the teacher will have a positive experience in the distance classroom. School districts need to recognize the fact that teachers need to have relevant training to teach via distance and develop policy in accordance.

"Considerations for Teaching in a Distance Learning Environment" (2000) Instititute for Distance & Distributed Learning, Virginia Tech. [online] Available: http://www.iddl.vt.edu/handbook/considerations.php. August 5, 2001.

Cyrs, Thomas E. with Eugenia D. Conway. (1999) Important Principles of Teaching and Learning. John P. Shonk.(ed), Teaching at a Distance with the Merging Technologies: An Instructional Systems Approach (pp9-17). Location: Center for Educational Development, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Kearsley, Greg. "Learning and Teaching in Cyberspace". [online]. Available: http://home.sprynet.co/~gkearsley/chapts.htm. August 5, 2001.

Kearsley, Greg. "Tips for Training Online Instructors". [online]. Available: http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/Oitips.htm. August 5, 2001.

Ursery, Damney and Martha Meacham, St. Edwards University "Wearing Many Hats: The Roles of an Online Instructor" [online] Available: http://www.stedwards.du/it_dept/instcm/roles.htm, August 05, 2001