Bethany Seminary offers a workshop about online teaching.

Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., is offering an online workshop to help participants become more effective teachers and learners in a technological society. The workshop is for those who may serve as online adjunct faculty in Bethany’s graduate program, as well as others who wish to immerse themselves in questions regarding online learning whether as instructors or students.

"Introduction to Online Teaching: A Six-Week Workshop for Bethany Seminary Instructors and Others" will be offered Oct. 23-Dec. 8. The six-week workshop is designed to equip participants with the awareness and skills needed to successfully facilitate online learning as a course instructor. Successful completion of the workshop will satisfy the online experience component required to teach Bethany and Brethren Academy online coursework. Instructors are Enten Eller, director of Distributed Education and Electronic Communication at Bethany, and Susan Jeffers, online faculty at Bethany.

Participants will learn to identify the unique challenges presented by online learning; incorporate teaching methods that can address the challenges and facilitate deep learning in an online environment; design an online lesson that incorporates some of those methods; and use Bethany's "Moodle" course management software to present that lesson.

Assignments may be completed throughout each week according to participants’ own schedules. There will be one required text, "Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom" (Jossey-Bass, 1999), by Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt, and additional readings. Participants are to prepare a syllabus of a course that they wish to present online, with which they will work throughout the workshop. Participation in course work, including online discussions and some writing, is required.

A full syllabus will be available four weeks prior to the workshop. Cost is $495, with scholarship funds available to qualified people. Continuing education units are available on request. For more information contact Eller at Connections@BethanySeminary.edu or 800-287-8822.

Source: 8/2/2006 Newsline
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