Source: Teacher Education and Special Education v. 30 no. 3, (Summer 2007) p. 167-182.
A key factor in successful teacher education is designing activities that promote attainment of instructional objectives. However, in online teacher education there is little evidence regarding the types of activities that can be used to achieve specific objectives and variation from class to class while providing effective instruction. This study examined 6 online activities focused on the types of objectives instructors often set in teacher education coursework. The activities were evaluated in an online graduate methods course.
Data were gathered from the teachers' (a) performance on each activity, (b) rating of questionnaire items, and (c) responses to open-ended survey questions. Findings suggested that the success of the 6 activities varied. Many teachers gave positive ratings to the activities related to facilitating learning of course concepts and promoting interaction among classmates. Several implications for designing online instructional activities are presented.