When they have learned the field well enough to represent and recreate it for the students, through experience or by earning degrees, they are considered fit to teach. Many of these teachers base their classroom exercises and the methodology of their lesson plans on the experiences that they went through during their learning process, and the substantial body of work that previous teachers have left for research and study. In this way they are able to combine the best elements of the learning experience, while fixing the areas that they may have felt were underrepresented during the learning experience. Part of the reason that this occurs comes from the fact that up until a few years ago, there were relatively few online courses that were easily accessible. The relatively recent increases in technology and the availability of the World Wide Web have changed all of that.
Online courses are now an option for all students and institutions.
This has created issues with the creation of online courses as there is little background for teachers to build from, and most have minimal experience with the full capabilities of the online environment. Many teachers are finding that they have to create their courses from scratch using a trial and error method in order to incorporate some of the newer technologies, as there is little to no body of work from which the teachers can derive the methodology and of the course. It is this lack of history or background that will not be quickly resolved as the creation of courses far exceeds the number of published studies in the field. Therefore, the trial and error method or, in some cases, the mentoring method has been occurring. This creates an imbalance that makes the mentors and teachers work together to derive the best way to create the course, without the benefit of proven methods to rely on.