The University of Missouri-St. Louis has a great technology infrastructure in place for both faculty and students. Using technology to increase communication and feedback among our students and faculty members ultimately provides additional ways to engage students and keep them informed and on track with their courses. Because the online learning and teaching environment presents opportunities and constraints that differ from traditional face-to-face classroom experience, instructors may want to learn on-their-own from the research and teaching experiences of others involved in distance education. "Distance" here refers to the asynchronous nature of using technology, in that students do not have to be place-bound or time-bound. They may choose when and where the course content is reviewed and learning activities are completed.

With the incorporation of communication technologies, such as compressed video, CD-ROMs, DVDs, e-mail, and the Web, distance education is being used by an increasing number of schools, colleges, and universities. A person may be able to use communication technologies, but can that person teach effectively with these technologies? That's where Roadmap to Effective Distance Education Instructional Design comes in.

Roadmap to Effective Distance Education Instructional Design grew out of several studies indicating that technology professionals helping instructors, and some faculty developing their own online instruction, had GREAT technology skill --in areas of video production, web development, and graphic design. However, these course developers did not have the educational theory necessary to create and sustain online learning among their students. So where are instructors and technology professionals going to learn about instructional design for online learning? Enter Roadmap to Effective Distance Education Instructional Design.

The materials that you'll interact with are designed to take you on a journey of discovery to help you better design distance education programs. Our goal is to provide you with the basic instructional design tools you need to succeed when developing distance education courses.

(Several "driving coaches" contributed to Roadmap to Effective Distance Education Instructional Design. Find out about them here.)

Find out what you'll learn.