Center for Online & Hybrid Learning and Instructional Technology (COHLIT)

Part 2: Collaborating with a Specialist on Learning & Tools

The online course environment is an attractive instructional option for graduate-level programs. In fields as diverse as business and social work, online courses draw people who work full-time, have family responsibilities, and live some distance from campus.

Dilafruz Nazarova knew that the students coming to her Rutgers political science course shared these characteristics. She also knew that online learning could offer a rigorous learning environment.

But she didn’t know how to get there.

While she had taught in face-to-face classrooms, Nazarova wanted professional guidance in transitioning to an online teaching environment. At first she was unsure about what instructional technology could offer her and her students.

Part 1: Creating An Online Course from Scratch

Dilafruz Nazarova was an accomplished scholar and advocate in human rights law when she arrived at Rutgers in 2010 to pursue a doctorate in political science. Born in Tajikistan and fluent in four languages, Nazarova had earned her law degree and worked for her government and international organizations focusing on international law.

She wanted to dive into yet another field—teaching online—but lacked experience and expertise.

But she’s now an enthusiastic and attentive online learning instructor—crediting the Rutgers Online Learning Conference (#RUOnlineCon), the instructional design teams available at Rutgers, and her political science department for her takeoff into the world of online instruction.

Jeff Selingo, author of College (Un)Bound, to cover higher education challenges in shift from ‘time served’ college experience

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Some of the nation’s top experts in online education and hybrid learning will share innovations and best practices at the Rutgers Online Learning Conference (RUOnlineCon) Jan. 11-12, 2016.

The conference will explore available and emerging technologies, use of learning management systems, ancillary software and sites, new instructional methods, assessments, audio/video elements, and faculty training and resources.

ON THE LIVINGSTON CAMPUS of Rutgers University, tucked away off an industrial road, is an unassuming yellow wood frame building. From the outside, it looks like a Shaker house, maybe home to some administrative offices.

But on the second floor is a lab, with a state-of-the-art laser cutter that fills the entire room. Down the hall are 3-D printers, machine shop equipment, a computer lab and a room just for robotics, all open to use by students and faculty. A staff of engineers helps them bring their ideas to life — from student art projects to diagnostic equipment designed by faculty.

Read more on NJ.com

If your concept of education has always included a classroom with students, desks and a teacher, chances are you might be someone who balks at the notion of taking an online course.

But the perception – more common among adult learners – that effective and rewarding learning cannot take place in an online environment is rapidly heading the way of cassette tapes and dial phones.