How did you learn to teach online? Self-taught? On the job? You and too many others. Only a fraction of teacher education programs report offering any formal training on the subject of online instruction. The growth in online course offerings makes it clear such training is needed, so then the question becomes how. If you were to design a course to prepare teachers to teach in an online or blended environment, what would it look like? What topics would be addressed? In this presentation, we will share our approach as we discuss the design and development of a course we built to prepare pre-service teachers to teach online. The design of the course is based on the ideas of the constructivist instructional model known as Rich Environments for Active Learning (REAL). As supported by the REAL model, the online course incorporates a variety of hands-on, authentic, and collaborative activities. The course consists of three major projects with an emphasis on seven broad topics or issues related to online learning. These seven topics are drawn from research in the field and supported by educational technology standards. Topics include ideas such as access and equity online, online instructional design principles, and assessment online. Our course is, as most, a work in progress and though we are eager to share what has been developed to this point, we are just as interested in stimulating a dialogue related to best practices and models for preparing teachers for the online environment.

1. Michelle Moore, Alana Phillips,
Heather Robinson , Annie Sheffield

2. http:/www.flickr.com/photos/mhowry/6012581091

3. 0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
2000 2009
Student Enrollment in K-12 Online Courses
Dawley, Rice, & Hinck, 2010

4.  How did you learn to teach online?
 I took coursework during my professional training.
 I am entirely self-taught.
 I had professional development or training in the
workplace.
 I do not teach online.

5. 1.3%
98.7%
Learning toTeach Online:
Training Offered inTeacher Education Programs
Training offered No training offered
Kennedy & Archambault, 2012

6. 12%
88%
Prepared toTeach Online:Training Received
DuringTeacher Education Program
(As reported by new online teachers)
Received training Did not receive training
Dawley, Rice, & Hinck, 2010

7. Prepare pre-service teachers with the
skills and resources to teach online.

8. Provide an authentic experience and
model constructivist teaching methods.

9. Contribute to the conversation.

10. Learners will be able to:
 Engage students in the online learning
experience.
 Navigate current and emerging tools for
online learning.
 Identify and implement support elements
that allow students to be successful online.
 Design an online unit of instruction.

11.  Rich Environment for Active Learning (REAL)
 student responsibility and initiative
 generative learning activities
 authentic learning contexts
 authentic assessment strategies
 collaborative learning
Grabinger and Dunlap (1995)

12. • Introductions, community development, basic skill building
• Development ofTopics in Online Learning units
Weeks 1-5: Foundations
• Student-led units onTopics in Online Learning
Weeks 6-12:Topics in Online Learning Units
• Reinforce, extend, enhance, reflect, and synthesize
• Development and presentation of unit in K-12 content area
Weeks 13-15: K-12 Unit Project

13. LearningActivity REAL Attributes Bloom’s Level
Topics in Online Learning Project • Authentic
• Generative
• Student responsibility
• Analyzing
• Applying
• Creating
Synchronous Meetings • Collaborative
• Authentic
• Understanding
Project Status Reports • Student responsibility
• Authentic
• Evaluating
Design Review Meetings • Generative
• Collaborative
• Analyzing
Self and Peer Review Activities • Authentic • Evaluating
K-12 Unit Project • Authentic
• Student responsibility
• Applying
• Creating

14.  Access and equity online
 Using internet resources
 Online instructional design principles
 Online safety and netiquette
 Communication in online environments
 Managing group work and collaboration online
 Online assessment
Dawley et al., 2010; Duncan & Barnett, 2009;
International Association for K-12 Online Learning, 2011

19. https://www.flickr.com/x/t/0096009/photos/woinary/154821286/

21.  Our blog:
 http://learningbysharing.com
 Register for the Pilot:
 http://learningbysharing.com/teachingonline
 Michelle: MichelleMoore3@my.unt.edu
 Alana: AlanaPhillips@my.unt.edu
 Heather: HeatherRobinson2@my.unt.edu
 Annie: AnnelieseSheffield@my.unt.edu

22.  Moore, M., Sheffield, A., Phillips, A. & Robinson, H.
(2014) Designing a Course forTeachers: Introduction
toTeachingOnline. In Proceedings for Society for
InformationTechnology andTeacher Education,
Jacksonville, FL.
 Robinson, H., Phillips, A., Sheffield, A., & Moore, M.
(in press). A Rich Environment for Active Learning
(REAL): A Model for Online Instruction. In J. Keengwe
& J.Agamba (Eds.), Models for Improving and
Optimizing Online and Blended Learning in Higher
Education.
 Nash, S. & Moore, M. (2014). Best Practices in Moodle
Course Design. Birmingham, U.K.: Packt Pub.

23.  Dawley, L., Rice, K., & Hinck,G. (2010).Going virtual! 2010:The status of
professionaldevelopmentand unique needs of K-12 onlineteachers.
White paper prepared for the InternationalAssociationfor K-12Online
Learning.Washington,DC.
 Duncan,H. E., & Barnett, J. (2009). Learningto teach online:What works
for pre-serviceteachers. Journal of EducationalComputing Research,
40(3), 357–376. doi:10.2190/EC.40.3.f
 Grabinger,S.R. and Dunlap,J.C. (1995). Rich environments for active
learning:a definition.The Journal of the Association for Learning
Technology,3(2) 5-34.
 InternationalAssociation for K-12Online Learning.(2011). National
standards for quality online
teaching. Retrieved from
http://www.inacol.org/resources/publications/national-quality-standards/
 Kennedy,K., and L. M.Archambault. 2012.Offeringpre-serviceteachers
field experiencesin K–12 online learning:A national survey of teacher
education programs.Journal ofTeacher Education, 63(3): 185–200.