This week we had to select a free Open Course site and provide an analysis of the pre-planning and design for a distance learning environment. I chose http://web.mit.edu/ocw/ within the site there are over 2000 courses to choose from. They did not have a course related to teaching so I chose a different course. I chose Brain and cognitive sciences a course taught in the fall of 2004 at MIT. The instructor listed the requirements for the course in a column on the left. Listed is the Course home page, syllabus ,calendar, readings and assignments, lecture notes, exams and study materials. This is evident that the instructor pre-planned for the learners. Teaching at a distance requires planning and organization like face-to-face courses. I think the course appears to carefully planned and designed for a distance learning environment.
This course follows the recommendations for online instruction as listed in the course textbook.

The designer offered a variety of activities to engage the learner. The class offers Course Features such as Audio lectures, lecture notes and assignments (no solutions).There is a course description that gives the learner a general idea about the class. In the class description it states that one of the best aspects of Psychology is that you are the subject matter. This makes it possible to do many demonstrations in lecture that allow you to experience the topic under study according to the site. For each lecture, students are given a brief handout containing an outline, key questions, and points to ponder. Slides on visual perception and attention are also presented for lectures 4 and 5. The slides are also accessible on a pdf. According to the site.

The course also informed the learner in order to access some of the files in the course there are certain technical requirements. I like how the audio files are available of download from iTunesU. This gives the learners the opportunity to access the information from there mobile or ipods.

Overall I thought the course was effective in meeting the needs of distance learning. I think a video and more interactivity would enhance the course and provide a more meainngful learning experience.

References:
Wolfe, Jeremy. 9.00 Introduction to Psychology, Fall 2004. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed 10 Oct, 2010). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed 10 Oct, 2010). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA