Comments on: Are We Ready for Swine Flu?

By: Melissa Miller

Melissa Miller — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:24:24 +0000

I think this is a serious matter in which many schools or educations systems do not take into account until disaster hits. Swine Flu, Flooding etc. Yes there may be some work that involves the conversion of in class courses to online, but there are content creators that are trained to specifically write successful online training courses and convert classroom courses to distant learning courses. As of now the Government is gifting grants to certain organizations to implement distant learning or online training programs into the education system. More and more valuable resources are popping up on the web that contains online courses and certifications. A resource to check out is http://www.coggno.com. This provides the perfect example of an online marketplace enabling the development of learning online.

By: Job Tips » Blog Archive » Swine Flu and Online Learning

Job Tips » Blog Archive » Swine Flu and Online Learning — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:24:51 +0000

[...] the current news about the potential Swine Flu pandemic and I read recent blog posts regarding the need for practicing online teaching and learning so that one can shift online if a state of emer… (I love Brit’s suggestion of doing once-per-year weeklong “online drills”) and [...]

By: College Blog » Blog Archive » Swine Flu Brings Attention to Online Education

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:12:26 +0000

[...] Distance learning programs have been providing quality learning to complicated schedules for over a decade. People that demand flexibility in their education, such as members of the Armed Forces, performers, and frequent travelers, have been able to enjoy the same accredited education provided on a campus. People that live in remote regions and otherwise would not have access to such a large classroom setting get to experience interaction with their fellow students on online forums. One of the other qualities of distance education that is often overlooked, however, is its integral role in providing schooling to people that are ill, or to people that are avoiding illness in a time of crisis. [...]

By: Swine Flu and Online Learning - collab.r.nation

Swine Flu and Online Learning - collab.r.nation — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:45:43 +0000

By: School Closure and Implementation of Virtual School | Lessons Learned

School Closure and Implementation of Virtual School | Lessons Learned — Sun, 03 May 2009 03:23:07 +0000

[...] other ideas on how to prepare for the possibility of school closure, check out Britt Watwood and Stephanie Sandifer’s recent [...]

By: Liberal Education Today : Social media, H1N1, and digital literacy

Liberal Education Today : Social media, H1N1, and digital literacy — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:19:28 +0000

[...] At a practical level, if campuses enter quarantine, should we consider expanding our online teaching and learning practices? Britt Watwood explores this question. [...]

By: Stephanie Sandifer

Stephanie Sandifer — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:10:41 +0000

Britt — I love the idea of a weeklong “drill” once a year. There are so many situations that would benefit from a more flexible model that incorporates online learning — illness epidemics, flooding, hurricanes, snow storms and ice storms…

Not only are we not prepared for this, in too many cases we aren’t willing to make the necessary investments to prepare for this. My more complete thoughts on this are posted on my blog.

By: Swine Flu and Online Learning at Change Agency

Swine Flu and Online Learning at Change Agency — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:11:26 +0000

By: Derek

Derek — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:36:53 +0000

Great post, Britt. I hadn’t thought through the implications of the Valley City State University story. This reminds me of a talk I heard recently (via podcast) by someone at Virginia Tech about their response to the shootings there. It made me wonder if my teaching center might want to prepare a short summary of strategies for teaching in times of crisis that we could distribute (via Web, email, podcast, off-campus servers, etc.) if our campus faced an emergency of some sort.

Might those of us who support faculty on our campuses prepare some kind of beginner’s guide to teaching online, something specific to our campus resources, that we could distribute quickly if our campuses needed to shift to online teaching overnight?

Bud makes a good point that effective online teaching can’t be learned overnight. But what about naive online teaching, if that’s the alternative to no teaching at all? My point is that those of us who support faculty might want to think about what we could prepare ahead of time in case of emergency.

By: Bud Deihl

Bud Deihl — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:03:18 +0000

Thoughtful post on a serious matter. However, as you know from experience, effective online teaching requires a major change in practice that does not happen overnight. Perhaps the contemplation of such emergencies might be one motivating factor encouraging institutions to help faculty develop required skills, meaningful learning opportunities and formative assessment techniques before they “require all faculty to routinely “teach” one week of their semester online.”