Establishing Guidelines for Determining Appropriate Courses for Online Delivery

The purpose of this case study was to determine if one particular course is appropriate for online delivery. Two classes, one offered online and one offered traditionally, of a comparative education course were compared. Results of the study indicate that students ’ satisfaction with the online course was at least comparable to that of the traditional class. The results also indicate that the online course assignments were appropriate for meeting the course objectives. Guidelines useful for determining appropriate courses for online delivery are discussed. “Teach from the Beach! ” This is a common catchphrase used by the administrators of the Department of Distance Learning at one state university in the Southeast. Those individuals responsible for encouraging faculty to expand their use of available online course development programs use this type of advertisement frequently. Most of the emails, posters, workshops, and brochures that encourage online delivery of courses praise the convenience to faculty and students of such courses. Very rarely do we hear the pedagogical benefits of online delivery of courses. Should faculty member