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Live Darshan: You can see Live Darshan - Shree Somnath Temple, First Jyotirlinga. Because there is much variety in both student needs and possible educational offerings, universities should provide sufficient information to potential students that would allow them to wisely choose courses or programs that meet their content needs and learning styles.
Locating Online Offerings. Respondents were asked the following question: “If you decided to take an online course or begin an online degree, where would you look to see what is available? Where should universities advertise?” Many stated they had no idea where to look.
Others listed ITEA’s website and publications. A surprisingly large number of respondents noted that they would look toward local (geographically) sources to find information about online courses.
They most commonly included nearby universities, the Web pages of those universities, state organizations affiliated with ITEA, and state departments of education. The implications for the technology education profession are clear. First, there should be a free, centralized clearinghouse that facilitates easy listings of, and easy searches for, online education in technology education.
ITEA is the logical choice within the US for this clearinghouse, though other associations may be more appropriate elsewhere. A second implication is that universities should use a variety of strategies to disseminate information about online offerings.
These include Web-based sources, mailings, organizations, bulletins, and partners. The Web addresses (i.e., URLs) of courses should be submitted to search engines so that keyword searches will find the necessary information about the online offering. Willingness to Teach Online. Respondents were asked, “Would you like to try teaching online (even if that means getting training in online teaching)?” A large number (437, 47%) answered, “Yes.” This was higher than had been expected, considering the observation of Williams, Paprock, and Covington (1999).
They stated, “When teaching and training professionals are asked to participate in open and/or distance learning projects, many have an underlying resistance to change” (p. 75). Those without prior experience as online students were more likely to answer “Yes” than those who had been online students. The implications for universities and the technology education profession are not certain, here.
