Collaborative Online Course Development: Facilitation of Multi-Dimensional Teaching and Learning

The authors focus on how instructors and administrators collaborate in order to facilitate multi-dimensional learning and teaching through an online teacher education course. Based on the premise that demonstrating advancement of teaching is related to advances in information sciences and technology, we created and evaluated features of an entirely online special education course. The online course was designed as a joint effort of a team of special education instructors and instructional designers from several American universities, and has been operational for 10 consecutive years. Within an action research framework, we describe recent changes in the course content and online teaching practices. The researchers conducted comparative analysis of the course content and teaching practices demonstrated in the 7 online introductory special education course sections taught over 3 academic years (during spring and fall semesters). The purpose of this paper is to explain how instructors and administrators collaborate in order to facilitate multi-dimensional learning and teaching through an online teacher education course Orientation to Education of Exceptional Children (OEEC). The findings revealed that there is a need for ongoing revisions of the online teaching practices and course content. Final conclusions relevant for the further online course development and improvement of the learning and teaching are offered.