This post is provided by guest blogger, Jessica Munkvold, graduate student at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, IL, MS in Training and Development program.

Managing a face-to-face course is tough, but can you imagine managing an E-learning course? You would think, maybe it will be easier since everything is online, but did you consider how to maintain the course online? There are many things to be considered

when maintaining an e-learning course. One of those things is making sure you have a relationship with the IT Department. This may seem like an overlooked thing, but it is important because it is one of the reasons the program fails. The IT Department is there to help you personalize the CMS system for your course, help you with any technical issues, and answer any questions you have. Essentially, a key relationship to making your life as an instructor easier! Another key to managing an E-learning course is having proper channels of communications not only with the IT Department, but with the learners. This reason is one of the reasons why the courses fail; there isn’t quality communication between the instructors and learners. Having multiple options to communicate with the instructor, such as two different emails and an office phone number, ensures the learners that you are reachable.

I think the article by Arshavskiy (2017) is a good source for what to help with whenever you are planning a course. The article has six reasons why e-learning courses fail, but the problem is there isn’t an explanation on how to combat it. The book Teaching and Learning at a Distance referenced below helps fill in the blanks on how to combat these issues, but also provided some issues that are overlooked, such as having a relationship with the IT Department. Having that information is helpful to make sure the course is effective for the learner and the instructor.

Arshavskiy, M. (2017, July 18). Managing e-Learning Projects. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/managing-e-learning-projects

Simonson, M. R., Smaldino, S. E., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing