Even where teaching is primarily ‘face to face’, online tools and interactions have become a key part of the learning experience.

But teaching online is different. If you work in education or training at any level, you need to develop new skills and understanding in order to make the right decisions, make the most of the opportunities, and overcome common challenges.

It is almost 20 years since The Open University trialled our first fully online course with our students. We are now world leaders in the research and delivery of online education. In this free course, we share the fundamental knowledge needed to deliver effective teaching online.

In Take your teaching online, you will hear about the experiences of real educators, be introduced to cutting edge research, and understand the ideas and tools that shape how we teach and learn online. You will also learn useful methods that will guide you to test out these new ideas in your own practice.

Enrolling on the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they're a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.

Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation - which also displays your Open University badge.

The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey . Once you complete the course we would also value your feedback and suggestions for future improvement, in our optional end-of-course survey . Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

Anyone wishing to provide evidence of their enrolment on this course is able to do so by sharing their Activity Record on their OpenLearn Profile, which is available before completion of the course and earning of the Statement of Participation.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• Identify the differences between teaching online and teaching in a face-to-face environment
• Make informed decisions when choosing new tools and pedagogies for online teaching
• Identify major benefits and challenges of teaching online
• Understand the changing practices of educators as they make use of online opportunities such as social networks and open educational resources
• Understand how to create and evaluate approaches to online teaching that are appropriate for you.