FutureU’s Faculty Web Book
FutureU is your one-stop shop for products and services about virtual communications and learning.
Description
FutureU’s Faculty Web Book really uses the resources of the World Wide Web. As you go, you visit lots of other sites, carefully selected as the best ones for introducing each particular aspect of the online teaching and learning experience. Whenever the authors find a terrific new resource, they add it to the Web Book, just the way you might hand out a new reading in a course. This flexibility is part of the beauty of the online classroom.
It’s also the challenge. All these riches can overwhelm, unless you know how to manage them. We’re going to show you how.
The Faculty Web Book “models” the structure of a good course Web site—a design you might want to adopt for your own courses. You can easily find your way around from page to page. The material comes at you in manageable chunks. The concepts are all tied together in a discussion forum where you can “talk” about what you are learning, ask questions, and learn even more.
Teaching online is a two-part job. First, you build a Web site for your course. Then, you interact with your students using the electronic media. The Faculty Web Book covers the art and craft of both.
It’s complex. It’s challenging. It’s also fun. Smooth sailing and worth the trip. Just the way you want your own courses to be.
The Faculty Web Book covers big concepts as well as hands-on skills. It was written and designed by people who were teaching online long before the Internet became a household word. These are the same people who introduce the online classroom every year to healthcare executives enrolled in the American Hospital Association’s fellowship programs—working adults, like you, who tell us…
The advent of the online classroom is like the invention of the book. It changes everything. Centuries ago, teachers learned how to integrate books into the learning experience. Today, you face an opportunity just as huge in its impact but demanding a lot more skill on your part.
The Faculty Web Book is your guide to the unique environment of the online classroom, the special skills and insights that every instructor should pass on to students, and the complex set of steps involved in designing, developing, and implementing the online component of any course, whether or not you also meet face to face.
Teaching online isn’t just a matter of learning some new software. The workload can quickly overwhelm, and the experience can definitely disappoint—unless you know the “tricks of the trade.” The Faculty WebBook will give you everything you need to succeed while you also enjoy the ride.
WebBook Features
- 17 easy-to-read chapters (ten in Volume 1, seven in Volume 2), each divided into:
- a main chapter narrative
- one or more exercises
- one or more electures, study notes,
- and/or checklists
- Relevant hot-linked Web resources built into each chapter
- Extensive online tool kit of Web resources useful to instructors and students
- Access to an online discussion forum about technology-enriched teaching
- Access to a technical support forum
- Easy navigation
- Full money-back guarantee if not completely satisfied within 90 days of purchase
Benefits to You
- Learn the easy way—in privacy, at your own pace, at any time of day
- Free yourself from the limited perspective of any one course software
- Fully grasp this unique pedagogy and process, not just the technology
- Are you an early adopter? Acquire a vocabulary and structure for teaching others
- Are you a tenderfoot? Catch up with early adopters
- Simplify the search for high-quality online resources and reference materials (We’ve already done the searching and compiling for you!)
- Require less “hand-holding” by IT staff
- Reap more professional, more rewarding results from your hard work
Benefits to Your Institution
- Lower the huge cost of face-to-face faculty training
- Leapfrog past the expensive, time-consuming process of inventing your own training program
- Quickly and easily bring all faculty to the same level
- Address specific training needs or the whole picture
- Build support, reduce resistance and drop-outs
- Prepare faculty to help every student succeed
- Lighten the load on IT staff
Web Book Contents
Technical Information
The Faculty Web Book exists as a large, frequently updated Web site, at least one subject-based discussion forum, and one peer-based technical support forum, all accessed from your computer by password on the Internet. All you need is an Internet email address and access to the World Wide Web.
The Faculty Web Book has been tested for use as a course text in Blackboard, eCollege, etudes, FirstClass, IntraLearn, Moodle, Prometheus, VirtualU, Web Course in a Box, WebCT, and as a stand-alone Web site that can be used with any electronic classroom. Conversion to your online classroom platform is available for an additional fee.
About FutureU™
FutureU publishes Web books, provides online and face-to-face learning experiences, consults with institutions, and studies the fields of online education and communications.