How do you make an online class work? Engage students in the learning process - just as you do in the face-to-face classroom. There's just one catch. Strategies that work well in the traditional classroom may not work well in the online classroom. An online class must be designed for the online classroom and facilitated using techniques proven to engage students in an online environment. The differences are subtle. But the results are dramatic. To create an effective online class, you must know the secrets to teaching online. What are these secrets you ask? That's the subject of this book. Online Classes That Work Discovering the Secrets to Teaching Online is a valuable resource for anyone designing or teaching online classes. It is a must-read guide to assist instructors and designers in creating and teaching effective online classes or in combining the best of online with face-to-face teaching in the blended classroom. This book is an ideal resource for an instructor preparing to teach his or her first online class, for new faculty or students learning the education process, and for experienced faculty and designers seeking ways to make their classes more engaging and effective. For the instructor or designer, this book includes The learning model for online education Strategies for creating engaging and effective content Techniques for engaging students in the learning process Strategies to engage students in conversations and discussions Techniques to formally and informally assess learning outcomes Online Classes That Work is a valuable resource for administrators and program heads who must maintain and support online education. For the administrator and program heads, this book includes Strategies to keep courses up to date Techniques to support students in the learning process Strategies to manage faculty Strategies to manage course delivery Although the story revolves around a professor in a university setting, secondary school teachers, trainers, or anyone who desires to create effective and engaging online courses can apply these same techniques to make their online classroom engaging and effective. Online Classes That Work is written as narrative nonfiction. The lessons, strategies, and techniques critical to making online courses work-in other words, "the secrets"-are embedded in the story. I have found that narrative nonfiction allows complex ideas to be presented in a readable and approachable way. I hope you agree. Part 1 of Online Classes That Work tells the story of Tony Brown, an economics professor who excels at teaching face-to-face in the classroom, yet finds his first venture into the online classroom frustrating and ineffective. Tony experiences every professor's worst nightmare when he tries to teach a complicated subject to a group of disengaged students using poorly designed and out-of-date materials. "Is there a better way?" asks Tony as he sets out to find the secrets to making online courses work. Part 2 describes the learning model-the secrets to effective learning outcomes-and the roles student engagement and learning environment play in achieving measurable learning outcomes. Part 3 takes Tony on a journey where he discovers the secrets to creating content for online classes and the secrets to creating conversation in online classrooms. He also explores the role of technology in the online classroom, the online classroom as a safe environment for experimentation and learning, and the means of assessing outlines in an online environment. Part 3 ends with a discussion of course structures and techniques for the care and feeding of online classes. The story concludes in Parts 4 and 5 as Tony synthesizes his research, discovers the secrets to teaching online, and creates an engaging and effective online course. Welcome to my classroom."