Some time ago I began to take online courses in a number of subjects. I was thrilled with the ease and convenience of learning in my own home. I found the content of the courses challenging yet enjoyable. As time went on and I got further into the courses I began to see that with a little more organization on the part of the faculty I could be given tools to help me in a number of ways, among them to interact with other students.

It is also true to say that it is easier to learn by listening to the spoken word than to merely read written material. In addition other tools could be offered to students that would make the learning experience more interactive and challenging.

Here are my suggestions for creating an interactive campus.

Firstly, it can be time consuming to wait for written material to come via currier or the post, not to mention expensive. I propose that online facculties should make all of their written material available in PDF format that can be downloaded directly as needed onto the students computer or into hard copy. This will prove less expensive for all concerned in the long run because as the content is generated electronically it costs nothing to generate.

Secondly, I suggest that all good faculties should have forum pages for students and tutors or mentors. This will both allow students to communicate with staff and with other students also. This had tremendous advantages. Firstly it can be created so that only those with a password can enter. Secondly, it can be a source of reference that is a treasure trove of information. Note however that each faculty should have it’s own to prevent confusion.

Thirdly, a conferencing tool is a great way to present real time, online lectures and seminars to a vest number of students. The advantages of this is that they all enjoy the same quality. Unlike phone conferencing, computer conferencing has one great quality and that is only one person can speak at a time and the lecturer is the only one who can interrupt. Other qualities include full screen mode, the possibility to use white board tools, slide shows, flash video movies and a lot more. With these tools the college can really give the student an interactive quality learning experience that is almost as good as a real live class room. In this way almost any subject can be covered, especially subjects that are difficult to learn from text books alone. It takes very little time to master this tool. In addition, students who have downloaded this tool onto their computers can use these online conferencing tools to talk with and interact with tutors, mentors or other students when formal lessons are not in progress. There are programs that give unlimited access and unlimited time usage. Hor conference is one such program.

Fourthly, flash, or mp3 recordings of lessons, lecture or sessions allow students to recap and go over material that they might not have assimilated well from written material or online lectures. As they have full control of the replay of such events they have time to formulate and think about any questions that may need clarification.

Fithly, and have already seen this one on some internet study programmes. Pages should be designed that present the student with spot tests and quizzes on the subjects that he or she is learning so that the student has something with which to relate his progress before attempting to write a report or work that is required at the end of a module. This also adds a fun element to the study programme and cuts out some of the dryness of learning only from text.

Finally, the college’s website should be devided into two primary sections. The first is the marketing and promotional section which is the part that we are all familiar with and the second section of the website needs to be the learning center with sub devisions for each faculty and further sub sections for each course if the courses begin at regular intervals or semesters.

True, it is easier for learning centers to put a folder with material into an envelope together with a few DVD’s and the email address of a tutor/mentor but my contention is that the online learning process can be so much more.

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