Monday, May 25, 2015
Week 1
In Chapter 1 of Conquering the Content I came across one of the concerns I have with teaching a fully online course. The author is talking about how online learning is different than classroom learning. His point is that without the benefit of non-verbal feedback and face-to-face group dynamics, students need a lot of verbal feedback to encourage and motivate them. My concern with teaching such a course is that I derive much enjoyment and motivation out of interacting with the students in real time. On occasion I'll have a group of students that, for whatever reason, isn't very engaged. It can be tough on my motivation and excitement for the course. Anyway, thinking about getting little or no feedback from students, makes me wonder if I would enjoy teaching an online course? I also wonder if a person needs to enjoy the technology side of teaching online. Not that it is all about the technology but it seems like an underlying interest in the tech side would be beneficial from an motivational/enjoyment standpoint.
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Hi Kevin -
ReplyDeleteI TOTALLY AGREE with the student feedback issue. I taught an online class for Dordt last fall to alleviate some scheduling pressure, and... I missed the students.
I also agree with your thought about if a person needs to enjoy the "technology side" of teaching online. I think there is a small piece of truth to that.. but more than that... I think a person needs to enjoy the challenge of teaching through a new medium. For example: how can I use a "discussion" or an "assignment" or a "quiz" or a "poll" to accomplish a goal I have in the class. To me that is a fun challenge :)
Kevin, your post makes me think about my class visit last spring to a course a Dordt taught by an education professor who did an outstanding job of connecting with students. That was a grad course, so he didn't have the option to pull students together in person, but he did schedule a weekly synchronous meeting. He was masterful about getting a lively discussion going. For the first half hour, he led a whole-class discussion much like what we experience in a F2F setting--the students and I could see his face, hear him and each other, and also chat with him, individual students, or the whole class in writing alongside. From there the class broke out into live group work (small group video conference + Canvas or Google Doc), which seemed to go pretty smoothly, too. I believe he recorded these sessions since sometimes there were absences, so if you'd like me to connect you with this professor, just let me know.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the "missing the student" part. Their presence, body language, and interaction with each other as they would in real life are very important in what I teach, since I am trying to prepare them for human interaction. I understand that more and more of their reality will happen online, and am very curious to see how that could work even for the subject I teach. Leah, if you don't mind, I would love to connect with that prof you mentioned.
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