Virtual Learning and Instructional Tools: Perfecting the Weekly Roadmap

Gina Cicco*
Associate Professor of Counselor Education, St. John's University, Queens, New York.
Periodicity:July - September'2015
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jet.12.2.3610

Abstract

This article will provide details on the importance of providing structure within an online graduate counseling course in the form of a weekly roadmap tool. There are various instructional tools that may be useful in providing students with differing levels of structure, to meet their learning style preferences for structural stimuli (Cicco, 2013). The Dunn and Dunn Learning-Style Model lists structure as an element of learning style within the emotional domain of an individual's learning style profile (Dunn & Griggs, 2003; Rundle, 2006). Recent research indicates that student satisfaction in virtual classrooms is often related to faculty-student interactions, levels of available support for students, and course structure, among other variables (Yukselturk & Yildirim, 2008). Effective online instructors will be cognizant of their roles and available tools in creating increased or decreased levels of structure in virtual classrooms. The weekly roadmap tool, though sometimes pre-crafted and embedded in course management systems, may be customized by a faculty instructor to provide improved faculty-student interactions, assignment clarifications and resource support, and structure that marks and guides student achievement of sequential course learning objectives (Kasworm, Rose, & Ross- Gordon, 2010). This article will outline clear methods of creating and perfecting a weekly roadmap tool in online counseling and other graduate education courses and point to the need for further formal study of its academic impact.

Keywords

Counseling Courses, Course Structure, Graduate Education, Instructional Methods, Learning Styles, Online Courses, Online Instruction, Virtual Classroom, Virtual Learning Tools, Weekly Roadmap.

How to Cite this Article?

Cicco, G.(2015). Virtual Learning and Instructional Tools: Perfecting the Weekly Roadmap. i-manager’s Journal of Educational Technology,12(2), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.26634/jet.12.2.3610

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