Coming to the end of the course, I think the biggest takeaway for me was who benefits from a distance learning setting, both students and teachers, and who doesn't. Interestingly, I think I have to conclude that neither I nor my students are fit for a distance learning model... They do not possess the necessary flexibility, self-motivation, or tolerance for ambiguity that a fully online course requires. Neither do I necessarily relish the thought of heavier class loads, more grading, and less influence over the curriculum, especially since I work with special education students and a large part of my job is modifying the curriculum to find materials that work better for them. I was also honestly shocked at how poor the research shows the outcomes to be for online students vs their brick and mortar counterparts, though I guess I shouldn't be when I consider the traits of most high school students vs the traits required to be successful in an online environment.
In the future, I think this class will make me more cognizant of the downsides of online learning, and as I have students looking to take fully online courses (in FCPS, this is usually through APEX), I will make sure they understand the skills and demeanor necessary to be able to be successful, as well as providing a little more support than I otherwise might have, to ensure they have a positive experience should they choose to pursue that path after being fully informed.
The culminating project of the course was to prepare a screencast slide show presentation of online learning, covering its benefits, drawbacks, and trends. The video can be found below. Additionally, a popplet mindmap I completed during the course can be found here: http://popplet.com/app/#/4852475.
The presentation with speaker notes, citations, and so forth has been made public, and can be accessed here.