Requirement: Computer with
high-speed internet access (i.e., not a modem).
Information
and materials are emailed to students the week
before the course session begins. Materials include access to
the protected course site, syllabus, and getting started
instructions. Our courses are instructor-facilitated. The
instructor and a tech support person are available throughout
the course session.
Each course has a password-protected course web site that serves
as the method by which you can, for example, obtain additional
course materials such as articles, submit assignments, interact with instructor and
students by participating in a discussion board and/or scheduled
online chats, email instructor and fellow students, as well as
find other resources pertinent to the topic of the course.
These courses are designed to be convenient for
working professionals. Each instructor conducts their course in
their own style and with their own guidelines (for example, you
may be requested in one course to complete and submit assignments
as you work your way through the course session; another course
may require only that all assignments be submitted by the end of
the course session). So a degree of
self-discipline and self-motivation on the student's part is
essential in an online learning environment when compared to
in-person classroom style learning.
Distance learning is a way by which we can
offer learning opportunities to people in diverse locations who
otherwise might not have courses on these topics locally available.
It also affords unique and interesting
conversations because the group of participants are from a wide
variety of professions and locations and they can share their
diverse perspectives on the topic and bring new insights.
We are pleased to be able to offer
these opportunities for professional development and we continue
to try and improve the materials and the learning experience with
the help of feedback and suggestions provided by participants as
well as ongoing consultation regarding instructional design.
