| | October 20208IN MY OPINIONInstructors are Keyto Online Course QualityWhen Covid-19 first struck the United States in March 2020, it forced a rapid shift in education delivery at all levels. Abandoning shared physical spaces for the safe distance of online learning, some transitions were smooth, while others were a bit more rocky. In their wake, there have been many discussions about the quality of online education, with detractors claiming that the online environment simply can't measure up to traditional, face-to-face learning. But we should be wary of sweeping generalizations. It is undoubtedly true that some online experiences lack the engagement of onground classrooms, but some online courses are every bit as robust and rewarding as face-to-face. This is because there are many ways to teach online. At the university where I work, preparing instructors to teach, classes are conducted in multiple modalities: fully asynchronous online, in which instructors and learners interact in a shared online space at different times; fully synchronous online, where they come together through web conferencing at designated meeting times; blended asynchronous, where that shared online space is used in tandem with brick-and-mortar course meetings in an accelerated timeframe; blended synchronous, where web conferencing takes the place of the onground classroom in that combined and accelerated course; and competency-based asynchronous online, where instructors provide guidance as needed while students interact with content at their own pace. Each of these online formats is different, and what works in one needs to be reworked in another--discussions, for example, have to be conducted incrementally in asynchronous courses, while real-time conversations can be more spontaneous. As different as these online formats are, however, they all include an instructor, By Kriss Ferluga, Director of University Academic Services, Davenport University
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