Teaching Online Courses

This is the second in a series of three articles on the development and teaching of online courses using the Internet and World Wide Web. Asynchronous teaching, which is a method that allows students to study and interact with instructors at times convenient to their schedules, is central to online instruction. Asynchronous teaching also allows instructors to initiate and respond to communications with students at times when they are best prepared to do so. In contrast to traditional instruction, much of the teaching process in online instruction is the result of the instructional design built into the course as it is developed; activities, projects, exams, and assignments are developed before the course begins. This article describes experiences resulting from teaching two fully online graduate courses in special education and instructional design.