Primer for Teaching Online
1. Introduction
Welcome to Primer for Teaching Online, your starting point for designing effective, engaging, and scalable online learning experiences.
This module provides a structured overview of how to develop a web-based course, whether you are transitioning an existing face-to-face course or building a fully online offering from the ground up. Rather than serving as a comprehensive technical manual, this resource provides practical guidance, strategies, tools, and actionable insights to support faculty in designing and implementing high-quality online instruction. You will explore approaches that can be applied across modalities, including courses that fully operate online as well as those that integrate digital components to enhance traditional classroom delivery.
Divided into Sections
The Primer for Teaching Online is organized into focused sections that address key dimensions of online course development. Each section highlights common challenges and provides practical solutions to support effective course design and delivery.
Core areas include:
- Assessment Strategies: A variety of approaches to evaluating student learning in online environments
- Faculty Readiness: Best Practices for preparing instructors to teach effectively online
- Content Development & Conversion: strategies for adapting and creating digital learning materials.
- Technology Integration: guidance on selecting and leveraging tools to enhance learning
- Copyright & Compliance: essential considerations for ethical and legal content use
Each section also includes curated resources for continued professional development and deeper exploration.
A Primer
Just as a primer is used in the classroom to introduce a subject, this site is best used as a starting point for faculty making their initial plunge into the online classroom environment. The Primer for Online Teaching site will be regularly updated as new areas are identified and as more current and relevant information for current sections becomes available. The most important factor driving the content of these pages is user feedback on this site. Please let us know which areas were helpful and which need to be expanded or improved. With your help and guidance, it is hoped that this site will become a dynamic and worthwhile tool for both distance learning veterans and rookies who are developing materials and teaching courses in the online environment.
