Guest post by Suzan Harkness Ph.D., Director of the Center for Academic Technology, University of the District of Columbia and ACE Fellow, Mount St. Mary’s University Class of 2012-2013

No matter how endowed or respected the institution, there are five essential elements of equal importance that bind together to affect the functioning of the other in a successful online initiative. Successful online initiatives require a basic understanding of how core elements work together and separately to create a sound and successful online education program or college. Building a successful online model is much like baking bread – there are really five key ingredients that make or break the recipe.

Flour – Flour provides the foundation for all other ingredients – Colleges and universities need a sound strategic plan, supportive infrastructure, policies and procedures, and dedicated budget to support the strategic initiative.

Yeast – Yeast is a living organism that grows and reproduces – Colleges and universities need their strategy and key administrators, faculty and staff to grow the initiative through peer review, peer-to-peer learning, collegial collaboration, collaborative support structures and shared services, vision, and continual improvement. A program, staff, faculty, and vision in the technological paradigm that does not grow and stay current will rapidly become out-of-date and insignificant.

Learning is not a spectator sport. Learning requires discussion, engagement and debate, all while actively looking back on experiences and interacting with others.

Katherine Dowdell, District Chair for Social and Behavioral Sciences at Des Moines Area Community College, knows how difficult it can be to encourage students to engage in their education. Katherine began her tenure teaching online courses after volunteering for the role never having previously done it. Seven years later, she’s now coaching colleagues on how to be successful online.

Katherine’s tip on getting student’s engaged? Set up an engagement triple play. Online classrooms can facilitate student engagement in new and different ways than in-person training. With online learning: 1. Students engage with instructors. 2. Students engage with content. 3. Students engage with one another.

58% of faculty members say that the growth of online education makes them more fearful than excited. Originally, Katherine wasn’t sure that her students were “getting it.” Her fears subsided, though, and she’s helped us put together an Instructor’s Field Guide titled, 5 Ways to Get Started with the Online Classroom.

Every once in a while, we have to tackle something outside of our comfort zone. Whether that something is running a marathon or teaching an online course after years of in-person instruction, everyone goes through moments of discomfort.

Katherine Dowdell, an instructor with over 20-years of in-person classroom experience, was thrown into an uncomfortable situation. Asked to teach an online-course at Des Moines Area Community College, Katherine was at first unsure if her students were “getting it,” or how she was coming across. After plenty of trial and error, and now with seven years of online teaching under her belt, Katherine is an expert. She even coaches colleagues on how to succeed in an online classroom!  (Especially important since 58% of faculty said that the growth of online education made them more fearful than excited!)

One of the hardest adjustments for students transitioning from a traditional classroom to an online environment is feeling connected to their teacher. Many times in online courses students are a username while instructors become virtual computers responding back to questions and grading projects. But, this doesn’t have to happen with a few key tricks to creating an environment where online teachers become real.

Here are three simple tips:

Tip 1: Develop a sense of connection between yourself and the students early on in the course through an introduction discussion. Have students post about themselves in discussion boards or blogs to the rest of the class encouraging them to respond to each other. (Don’t forget to include some background questions that relate to the course in this discussion.) As the instructor, the biggest way to start that connection is personalizing your replay to each student, instead of just a cookie cutter response.  To get the thread started, post about yourself with some personal information (your interests, favorite book, etc). Offering personal information will help students connect with you and make it so you aren’t a robotic, online teacher.

The world of education seems to be amidst a sea change, and a full list of people that are making an impact on education would be infinite.  However, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to list just a few of our favorite folks in education in 2012 (in no particular order).

1. Michael Chasen

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first.  Michael Chasen, the co-founder and CEO of Blackboard steps down at the end of the year, but we can’t forget his pioneering work to build Blackboard to the organization that it is today and his contributions to the ed-tech community over the past 15 years. While we’ll miss him walking our halls, we know this isn’t the last we’ll hear from him.

2. Sal Khan

Sal Khan is getting a lot of attention (Time’s Top 100 Most Influential People) for offering his world-class instructional videos for free to anyone, anywhere.  This recent Forbes article headline says it all – “One Man, One Computer, 10 Million Students:  How Khan Academy is Reinventing Education.”  Watch the video below for highlights from his closing keynote at our BbWorld conference this past summer!

3. The Active Learner

We can’t forget to acknowledge all of the students who are driving change and technology adoption from the student level.  As our recent video tells the story, these learners best represent the future of education and are rapidly growing in numbers and force.

4. Anant Agarwal

Agarwal is the President of EdX, a nonprofit start-up from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which The New York times reports had 370,000 students this fall in its first official courses.  Yes, it’s a MOOC.   Agarwal is leading the way in open education through free online courses from top universities.

5. Curtis Bonk

Dr. Curtis Bonk, a revered e-learning expert and Professor of Instructional Systems Technology in the School of Education at Indiana University, taught our first ever MOOC on our CourseSites platform.  The MOOC, applauded by Joshua Kim of Inside HigherEd, offered professional development to fellow instructors on improving motivation, retention, and engagement within blended and online courses.

6. Eric Sheninger

When not busy with his position as Principal of New Milford High School located in Bergen County, NJ, Sheninger is a vocal leader in the use of social to better engage students, educators, and other stakeholders. He maintains personal blog, A Principal’s Reflection, tweets to over 30,000 followers as @NMHS_Principal, and provides frequent contributions on Huffington Post.

7. Jessie Wooley-Wilson

Formerly of Blackboard, Woolley-Wilson is now President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board at DreamBox Learning. According to Forbes, in an article where she was recently named one of their Top 15 Classroom Revolutionaries, her adaptive learning technology has provided over 50 million online lesson minutes over the past 12 months, both privately and in schools in 47 states.

8. Adam Braun

Inspired by a trip to India in 2008 when he handed out his first pencil, Adam Braun, founded Pencils of Promise, a non-profit that builds schools and trains teachers in the developing world. Since his organization began, his staff has delivered more than 4 million instructional hours to kids around the world. Oh, and he was recently named to Forbes 30-Under-30 in 2012. Check out his organization that is doing lots of good: @pencilsofpromis.

9. Diane Auer Jones

This former Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education is using her voice as Vice President for External and Regulatory Affairs for Career Education Corporation (CEC) to highlight the importance of accountability in higher education. Jones advocates for a “single definition” in education through a rethinking of accountability and student success across institution types, as the distinctions between traditional schools and career or vocational institutions is starting to blur.

Our #10 falls more in the category of “One Watch in 2013,” but here’s why…

10. Jay Bhatt

The new CEO of Blackboard formally took the reins just barely two months ago, but is gearing up to take Blackboard to the next level. Bhatt has exceptional experience in the software industry, but more importantly, is strongly committed to excellence and innovation for Blackboard in the coming years.