Online is education for the 21st century

© 2014 by the Education Special Interest Group (EDSIG) of the Association of Information Technology Professionals. Online teaching and learning have become increasingly common in higher educational institutions. These higher educational institutions realize the growing importance of online learning in information systems/information technology (IS/IT) education and are now offering online IS/IT courses and programs to students. However, designing, developing, teaching, and assessing an online IS/IT course effectively is often a challenge. Many IS/IT instructors are new to online teaching and need orientation and training for their own readiness in designing, developing, teaching, and assessing IS/IT courses in the online environment. It is recognized that effective faculty are key to student success in online courses and to the success of online programs (Meyer and Jones, 2012). Therefore, it is imperative that administrators and instructors of IS/IT courses and programs learn more of the best practices of online teaching for high student success. This support to instructors and administrators is the purpose of the Special Issue of the Journal of Information Systems Education