Technical Competencies

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An Online Instructor Is In Part a Web Manager: What you'll need to know how to accomplish

No matter which course management system (CMS) or alternative web design you use for your course, you will need to be able to manage and organize the content on that website. The following is a list of some basic course management skills that will come up when you teach an online course:

 

• Posting an announcement
• Sending email within the system to one student or all students
• Establishing discussion forums
• Posting responses or moderating discussion forums
• Setting up groups
• Uploading content
• Managing students' assignments
• Designing exams
• Grading assignments and quiz submissions
• Setting points for assignments and quizzes
• Organizing the course gradebook
• Enabling various settings in your course
• Tracking student progress

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Some of these tasks may be handled by your school's Instructional Technology team, or they may vary in necessity depending on your CMS:

 

• Making your course available or unavailable
• Copying select content from course to course
• Archiving your course

 

Before you teach your first online course, you should get in touch with your school's IT team. They will be able to tell you what their department offers in the way of technical training for faculty, and possibly help you learn the skills necessary for teaching within your school's online program. If you are not currently on faculty at a school with an online program, or otherwise wish to develop your skills independently, some schools and CMS home sites offer training in the use of the software (though depending on the source, you may need to shell out some cash for this training).

 

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