eLearning Continuum

Online teaching spans a continuum from supplemental use of technology to enhance face-to-face learning, through a hybrid mix of face-to-face and online instruction, to fully online courses delivered to learners who may never meet in a classroom on campus.
Teaching online ranges from supplementing traditional classroom teaching to fully distance courses where students and instructors never meet face to face.
Below are examples of each type.

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Enhanced Courses

Use of online materials to complement classroom learning experiences (online syllabi, readings, etc.). You might consider enhancing a course if:

You teach a traditional classroom-based course and would like to share course materials and handouts online.
You want to use technology to provide additional resources to your students, but don't necessarily want to use technology as a teaching tool.
You are not planning to make significant changes to the way you teach a face-to-face course.

Example: Agricultural Economics

Neal Hooker supplements traditional classroom instruction with online discussions and resources.

For his course in agribusiness marketing, Hooker incorporated links to discipline-specific databases to facilitate student projects and research. He also makes extensive use of online discussions. The result is greater opportunity for his students to engage with the course material and each other.

Click the image on the left to watch Neal Hooker discuss his course.

Neal Hooker, Department of Agricultural, Environmental & Development Economics, collaborated with University Libraries and TELR to enhance his face-to-face courses.

Hybrid Courses

A mix of face-to-face and online learning experiences. You might consider developing a hybrid course if:

You want to reduce, but not eliminate, time spent on traditional face-to-face instruction.
You want to redesign a traditional course so that substantial course content and student learning activities are online.

Example: Chemistry

Students in Ruth Kinder's chemistry courses benefit from the flexibility of online instruction, with classroom time used only for hands-on "wet" labs and exams.

Kinder's course meets the strictest definition of a hybrid course – meeting face to face no more than 30% of the time. Lectures, quizzes, pre-labs, and lab reports all take place online.

Click the image on the left to watch Ruth Kinder discuss her course.

Ruth Kinder, Department of Chemistry at Ohio State's Lima campus, works face to face with students during labs; students prepare for labs and watch lectures online.

Fully Online Courses

A course that exists solely online. Interaction may be synchronous (facilitated in real time) or asynchronous (self-paced). You might consider developing a fully online course if:

You want to teach a course that does not have traditional, face-to-face classroom interaction.
You have potential students who can't attend class at a specific time or location.

Example: History

Tim Gregory teaches fully online courses about Western Civilization while on site at Ohio State's archaeological excavations in Isthmia, Greece.

Gregory and his students interact via online discussions and seldom opt for real-time communication. He assigns small discussion groups, each with a student moderator, to encourage students in his large courses to interact with their peers.

Click the image on the left to watch Tim Gregory discuss his course.

Tim Gregory, Department of History, teaches courses from Ohio State's excavation site in Isthmia, Greece.