My frail and gravely ill mother finally agreed to come stay with us last week because she's so weak. Waiting for CT scans and biopsy results has made it difficult to focus on design considerations and constraints as Designing Online Courses comes to a close. But really, how is that any different than the rest of the semester?
For some reason design considerations have confounded me since Lesson 3. I have a feeling I'm making them more difficult than they really are. I initially struggled with writing learning objectives as well. But once I started considering each objective an extension of the phrase "By the end of the course I want my students to be able to..." they fell into place. No such catch phrase has risen for design considerations, however, so there seems to be no simplifying the concepts for me. Even the readings and supplemental materials from our consideration did not help.
Fortunately, other lessons and concepts were much easier to digest. Assessments seem to come naturally to me (just ask my students who took a grueling final last night in my face to face class!). And dealing with most learner issues isn't too difficult either. But I have yet to figure how to best teach interviewing skills to journalism students in an online class. Perhaps more importantly, how can I help them develop passion and curiosity for telling interesting stories about the world around them? Some would say those last two traits must be innate, but I believe a teacher can help students find their passion and channel their curiosity and energy. I don't think that being a good mentor has to be the purview of a face to face teacher either. But making those strong connections might be a little more challenging in the online environment.
I have mixed feelings about the peer reviews and groups in this course. I am a big fan of peer critiques and I certainly believe they helped me improve my final paper and, to a lesser extent, my drafts. But having to work the peer review group into a heavy mix of drafts, reading and life proved difficult this semester. I will be using a peer critique group in my online course. They will be run in a similar fashion to the story workshop format used in creative writing classes at Columbia College and the University of Iowa. Hopefully, I can find a way to work the groups into the course in a way that is more fun than work.
For me, the most important takeaway from this class will be the design template. As much as I dislike filling out forms, mapping out a course and making sure the objectives, activities and assessments are all aligned has been invaluable. I think I'm going to start using the design template for all the classes I teach, whether online or face to face.
Now if only there was a design template for handling life's biggest challenges.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
A new nemesis
I've progressed from being confounded by technology to being done in by "practice," "plan," "propose" and other dull words associated with learning objectives. It's not that I don't understand learning objectives, I'm just having trouble writing them properly. The purpose of learning objectives is to specifically describe what you want the student to learn by the end of a certain lesson or class. What do I want my students to be able to do or understand by the end of this lesson? It's a key question to ask as a course is developed online or face to face. Without knowing the objectives the teacher can flounder needlessly and the students will get frustrated with a lack of direction.
But do they have to be written with such specific wording and boring verbs? It reminds me of my sophomore composition class in high school which required a tedious and overly detailed outline with points deducted if you put your name on the wrong side of the page. I've never done well with such rigid rules and I think that's what's happened with my learning objective difficulties.
Boring verbs aside, I find Bloom's Taxonomy helpful as I develop my first online course. The progression from knowledge to evaluation was especially helpful when coming up with activities to support the lesson and enhance learning. And the steps to design different activities between students, the instructor and the information has also been good to learn. As someone who never had teaching courses in college, it's great to find out I've been on the right track in my classes. But it also gets me thinking about ways to improve my online and in person teaching
But it has been a challenge to map out every single bit of reading and each activity right from the start of a class. I always enjoy putting together the syllabus for my face to face journalism classes. But I will admit I sometimes don't have all the activities for a class figured out until a week before. This leaves me a lot of flexibility to react to the latest news. But that fluidity can make it stressful since I'm a part-time teacher and my full-time professional writing life is often hectic. If I don't have everything mapped out well in advance things sometimes don't come together until the last minute and I don't think that is best for teaching or learning. So all the work ahead of an online class could be freeing and less stressful in the long run.
I've decided to approach my course development as if it were a knitting project. The learning objectives are like the basic knit and purl stitches. They are the building blocks and there isn't a whole lot of creativity that goes into a single knit stitch or a learning objective verb. The overall template for the class is akin to the knitting pattern and that's where the creativity really shines. The finished project is a student who has hopefully learned something from my class. Now if only I could get the sweater currently on my knitting needles to go together as easily as a week's lesson.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Two down, two to go
I may regret saying this, but after struggling through the first two classes in Governor State University's online teaching certificate I'm feeling a lot more confident heading into the third course which focuses on design. Not sure where this new found jauntiness is coming from, but having the summer off from taking classes and just getting back from my first two-week vacation in more than 20 years probably helps. In addition, I am now basically working one job instead of two and that really assists the psyche (if not the pocketbook).
But more importantly,I experienced a real turning point during the second class when I had to facilitate a week's lesson. The proverbial light bulb went on as I realized that even though it is online it really is all about teaching. And I already know how to teach! Suddenly instead of fighting the technology I realized it is a tool for teaching, not a brick wall to blast through.
That said, I fully expect to have some moments of panic in the third class. I consider myself warned since our teacher told us up front this is the most demanding course in the program. As if the other two classes were a cake walk! The first hurdle is learning the new Blackboard system. So far so good though, since it actually seems a little easier than the old course management system (Note the progress here, the old Vickie would have been railing against the change).
I'm hoping my experience in developing traditional courses will translate seamlessly to this design course. I recently spent some time putting together a literary journalism course that was canceled due to low enrollment. I plan to use that for my final project. I think it could translate well to the online environment and perhaps that will be the right place to offer the course. The previous two courses made me more conscious of the different learning styles so I've already tried to incorporate them into the course. The biggest challenge will be developing online activites to support the learning. Making that transition will be interesting and I'm looking forward to applying the theories we've learned and my own teaching style to this new technology.
How's that for a new attitude? Now here's hoping I can keep up!
But more importantly,I experienced a real turning point during the second class when I had to facilitate a week's lesson. The proverbial light bulb went on as I realized that even though it is online it really is all about teaching. And I already know how to teach! Suddenly instead of fighting the technology I realized it is a tool for teaching, not a brick wall to blast through.
That said, I fully expect to have some moments of panic in the third class. I consider myself warned since our teacher told us up front this is the most demanding course in the program. As if the other two classes were a cake walk! The first hurdle is learning the new Blackboard system. So far so good though, since it actually seems a little easier than the old course management system (Note the progress here, the old Vickie would have been railing against the change).
I'm hoping my experience in developing traditional courses will translate seamlessly to this design course. I recently spent some time putting together a literary journalism course that was canceled due to low enrollment. I plan to use that for my final project. I think it could translate well to the online environment and perhaps that will be the right place to offer the course. The previous two courses made me more conscious of the different learning styles so I've already tried to incorporate them into the course. The biggest challenge will be developing online activites to support the learning. Making that transition will be interesting and I'm looking forward to applying the theories we've learned and my own teaching style to this new technology.
How's that for a new attitude? Now here's hoping I can keep up!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Getting there...
As the title of the post indicates, I finally feel like I'm starting to "get" online teaching. Facilitating a week really helped me reach that point. As I mentioned in the previous post, the trepidation felt prior to facilitating for a week was far worse than the reality. I think we were all a little nervous going in, but for me the nerves were compounded by a firm belief that I would be the one to crash the entire global Blackboard system in the midst of our Wimba lecture.
Alas, no such calamity occurred and the presentation went off without a techno glitch. I had taken the lead on preparing the Powerpoint, starting a couple weeks ahead of time with the research and designing of the presentation. I mention this timetable because I rarely have much time to work ahead. But this was not an effort to be put off until the last minute. As a novice at Powerpoint I knew it would take time. The hours started adding up, however, when I started gussying up the design of the pages. Ultimately, I decided a clean simple page is best with easy to read text and minimal graphics for a little visual eye candy. It's easy to get caught up in the endless possibilities and bog down the page. Resist the temptation.
I also strongly recommend open and frequent communication with your facilitation partner (if you have one) since two heads can be better than one. As a professional writer I tend to work alone in my head too much so it was good to work with someone else for a change. I was tempted at one point to "cheat" and try to meet in person. But since she lives hundreds of miles away that was not possible so the temptation passed.
My only disappointment in facilitating was the lack of interaction or "spark" with the students who attended our lecture. We built a few ice breaker exercises into our presentation but they didn't elicit much reaction. Of course, you don't always hit a home run in a face to face class either but I hope in the future I can infuse a little more energy into a group presentation.
I think I was most surprised by the discussion posts during facilitation week. I honestly did not expect to enjoy the reading and posting as much as I did. But we really have an intelligent and interesting group in our class and I learned a lot from them and got some great ideas. I suspect the same could be true for any online teacher. I did realize toward the end of my facilitation class that it would be better if my responses were occasionally questions or suggestions to draw out more responses from folks rather than simple comments. But just like the Wimba lecture, it will take some practice to develop a teaching style that functions like more of a guide.
When I started this learning adventure I was luke warm to the technology but wanting to offer opportunities to a wider array of students. Now I'm starting to really warm up to the genre and enjoy it! The one thing I do find surprising is the time necessary to really develop and run a successful class. I never thought online teaching was easier than tradition classroom teaching. But I could easily see it taking over someone's life if personal parameters aren't established from the outset. Otherwise you could be checking and posting all day every day and creating elaborate Powerpoint slide shows for lectures. And we haven't even touched on the time necessary to develop a course with syllabus and all the supporting materials yet. But just as time management is critical for students, it is essential for the teacher. We all need balance.
Alas, no such calamity occurred and the presentation went off without a techno glitch. I had taken the lead on preparing the Powerpoint, starting a couple weeks ahead of time with the research and designing of the presentation. I mention this timetable because I rarely have much time to work ahead. But this was not an effort to be put off until the last minute. As a novice at Powerpoint I knew it would take time. The hours started adding up, however, when I started gussying up the design of the pages. Ultimately, I decided a clean simple page is best with easy to read text and minimal graphics for a little visual eye candy. It's easy to get caught up in the endless possibilities and bog down the page. Resist the temptation.
I also strongly recommend open and frequent communication with your facilitation partner (if you have one) since two heads can be better than one. As a professional writer I tend to work alone in my head too much so it was good to work with someone else for a change. I was tempted at one point to "cheat" and try to meet in person. But since she lives hundreds of miles away that was not possible so the temptation passed.
My only disappointment in facilitating was the lack of interaction or "spark" with the students who attended our lecture. We built a few ice breaker exercises into our presentation but they didn't elicit much reaction. Of course, you don't always hit a home run in a face to face class either but I hope in the future I can infuse a little more energy into a group presentation.
I think I was most surprised by the discussion posts during facilitation week. I honestly did not expect to enjoy the reading and posting as much as I did. But we really have an intelligent and interesting group in our class and I learned a lot from them and got some great ideas. I suspect the same could be true for any online teacher. I did realize toward the end of my facilitation class that it would be better if my responses were occasionally questions or suggestions to draw out more responses from folks rather than simple comments. But just like the Wimba lecture, it will take some practice to develop a teaching style that functions like more of a guide.
When I started this learning adventure I was luke warm to the technology but wanting to offer opportunities to a wider array of students. Now I'm starting to really warm up to the genre and enjoy it! The one thing I do find surprising is the time necessary to really develop and run a successful class. I never thought online teaching was easier than tradition classroom teaching. But I could easily see it taking over someone's life if personal parameters aren't established from the outset. Otherwise you could be checking and posting all day every day and creating elaborate Powerpoint slide shows for lectures. And we haven't even touched on the time necessary to develop a course with syllabus and all the supporting materials yet. But just as time management is critical for students, it is essential for the teacher. We all need balance.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The joys of facilitating
When it comes to facilitating a class, the anticipation is definitely worse than the reality. I actually enjoyed facilitating a lot and was glad to have picked building community, an aspect of online teaching I find most challenging and relevant. Studies have shown that building a sense of community within a course really helps students succeed in the online environment and I hope we helped demonstrate that during our week. I especially liked pulling together the synchronous Wimba presentation. From the first time I attended a live Wimba discussion in the intro class, I have really been fascinated by it. Not only does it help bring the class together, but you have a chance to branch out from the routine of reading and discussion posts.
As part of the facilitation, I prepared my very first Power Point presentation. What fun! Although it's not necessarily a skill taught in the course, it's an important step for me to learn new programs and technology. Although my teammate and I received positive feedback on our presentation and discussion responses, I can't help but feel that in our presentation I was still in "sage on the stage" mode. It will be a real challenge to transition to being a "guide on the side." I felt that the discussion post responses allowed me to offer guidance and feedback, but as soon as I had a class in the Wimba session it felt very similar to lecturing in front of a live class. I don't think taking a leadership role is a bad thing, necessarily, but in an environment where the student has taken ownership of his or her learning it's not really necessary. I'll be working on shedding that habit in the coming months.
The other challenge we have addressed is competencies and keeping up with the eJones when it comes to training. Staying current on the trends in my own field of journalism is tough enough these days. But staying abreast of the trends in technology and online teaching seems impossible. I believe it is a case where you do the best you can. Authors in our readings stressed the importance of learning your own university's learning management system and trying new things periodically. I will do that, but I do not plan to pull my hair out learning every new program that comes along. That would be a certain path to an ulcer.
As an aside, however, I wonder specifically how adjunct faculty can keep up. Some schools offer training or funding for staff development for adjuncts. Others do not. I've read that adjuncts teach about 50 percent of the courses at American universities these days (yes, it's true!). With the growth of online courses I believe this trend will only increase in the future. Hopefully, schools will increase funding for training for adjuncts to make sure students in online courses have access to the most current and relevant information and technology. Although working with this new technology is tough for me, I really want my future online students to have access to the same quality of information that other students have across the country whether I'm an adjunct or a full-time faculty member. I'm glad GSU has made a commitment to training adjuncts with the scholarship for the certificate program.
Which brings me to the current bane of my existence - HTML. Surely, there has got to be an easier way to make web sites and course content look good! My brain feels so full that the HTML lessons are not sinking in and I'm struggling. I suspect there are ways to simply type in what you want and the underlying HTML code magically appears. If no one has invented that program yet, I'm going to figure it out and give Steve Jobs and Bill Gates a run for their money. Then I'll be able to afford all the ongoing training I need to keep up with all the new technology!
As part of the facilitation, I prepared my very first Power Point presentation. What fun! Although it's not necessarily a skill taught in the course, it's an important step for me to learn new programs and technology. Although my teammate and I received positive feedback on our presentation and discussion responses, I can't help but feel that in our presentation I was still in "sage on the stage" mode. It will be a real challenge to transition to being a "guide on the side." I felt that the discussion post responses allowed me to offer guidance and feedback, but as soon as I had a class in the Wimba session it felt very similar to lecturing in front of a live class. I don't think taking a leadership role is a bad thing, necessarily, but in an environment where the student has taken ownership of his or her learning it's not really necessary. I'll be working on shedding that habit in the coming months.
The other challenge we have addressed is competencies and keeping up with the eJones when it comes to training. Staying current on the trends in my own field of journalism is tough enough these days. But staying abreast of the trends in technology and online teaching seems impossible. I believe it is a case where you do the best you can. Authors in our readings stressed the importance of learning your own university's learning management system and trying new things periodically. I will do that, but I do not plan to pull my hair out learning every new program that comes along. That would be a certain path to an ulcer.
As an aside, however, I wonder specifically how adjunct faculty can keep up. Some schools offer training or funding for staff development for adjuncts. Others do not. I've read that adjuncts teach about 50 percent of the courses at American universities these days (yes, it's true!). With the growth of online courses I believe this trend will only increase in the future. Hopefully, schools will increase funding for training for adjuncts to make sure students in online courses have access to the most current and relevant information and technology. Although working with this new technology is tough for me, I really want my future online students to have access to the same quality of information that other students have across the country whether I'm an adjunct or a full-time faculty member. I'm glad GSU has made a commitment to training adjuncts with the scholarship for the certificate program.
Which brings me to the current bane of my existence - HTML. Surely, there has got to be an easier way to make web sites and course content look good! My brain feels so full that the HTML lessons are not sinking in and I'm struggling. I suspect there are ways to simply type in what you want and the underlying HTML code magically appears. If no one has invented that program yet, I'm going to figure it out and give Steve Jobs and Bill Gates a run for their money. Then I'll be able to afford all the ongoing training I need to keep up with all the new technology!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Power Point, Wimba and Wikis. Oh my!
So, after a fairly successful week of reading, posting, learning about HTML, and Wimbaing (a new verb in my lingo), I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Last semester whenever I started feeling the slightest bit of confidence in the online teaching technology something would go wrong and I'd be back at square one. So far, I haven't had that occur in ONTL 651. But I still can't shake the feeling that I'm doomed to frustration and fear that something will go wrong.
But perhaps I should enjoy this tiny bit of confidence and accept that I am learning and getting comfortable with the programs. After attending another student's Wimba lecture and listening to the archive of the professor's Wimba lesson Saturday, I had the feeling that I could actually teach a course online. I'm still a very, very long way off from many of the necessary competencies, but I now believe that in time I could develop an online journalism or political science course.
But before I get ahead of myself, we'll see how the my facilitation week with a fellow student goes. Much to my surprise, I'm enjoying working on the development of a lecture on building communities in online courses. I developed my first Power Point slides (a program I fear could be addictive) and was surprised at how simple it was to design some basic pages. I've never done Power Point in my journalism classes because my students need to develop the skill of writing detailed accurate notes while listening. Without that skill, a reporter cannot function very well. I'm also a firm believer (and studies have shown) that those who take written notes learn more and retain more information. I was horrified to find out recently that one of my step-sons took a psychology course (his major) at UIC in which he never opened the book and never took a single note because the professor merely handed out copies of his Power Point presentations to the students.He earned a B, but now he can't remember a thing from the course. I hope my students - whether face to face or online - don't feel that their time was wasted taking one of my classes.
As obvious as this sounds, having time to spend learning has made all the difference this week. The amount of reading and work this semester seems much more manageable and having stable rather than rolling deadlines for projects is a big help. As a freelance journalist I have no set schedule for my full-time career and never know when I'll be working, so a little stability in the coursework is a plus. Onward and upward!
But perhaps I should enjoy this tiny bit of confidence and accept that I am learning and getting comfortable with the programs. After attending another student's Wimba lecture and listening to the archive of the professor's Wimba lesson Saturday, I had the feeling that I could actually teach a course online. I'm still a very, very long way off from many of the necessary competencies, but I now believe that in time I could develop an online journalism or political science course.
But before I get ahead of myself, we'll see how the my facilitation week with a fellow student goes. Much to my surprise, I'm enjoying working on the development of a lecture on building communities in online courses. I developed my first Power Point slides (a program I fear could be addictive) and was surprised at how simple it was to design some basic pages. I've never done Power Point in my journalism classes because my students need to develop the skill of writing detailed accurate notes while listening. Without that skill, a reporter cannot function very well. I'm also a firm believer (and studies have shown) that those who take written notes learn more and retain more information. I was horrified to find out recently that one of my step-sons took a psychology course (his major) at UIC in which he never opened the book and never took a single note because the professor merely handed out copies of his Power Point presentations to the students.He earned a B, but now he can't remember a thing from the course. I hope my students - whether face to face or online - don't feel that their time was wasted taking one of my classes.
As obvious as this sounds, having time to spend learning has made all the difference this week. The amount of reading and work this semester seems much more manageable and having stable rather than rolling deadlines for projects is a big help. As a freelance journalist I have no set schedule for my full-time career and never know when I'll be working, so a little stability in the coursework is a plus. Onward and upward!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Here we go again...
I'm so happy to have survived the ONTL 650 class. There were times I thought an F would be on my transcript for sure. But alas, I made it to the next level and feel confident that if I could survive the Intro class I can survive anything.
Until I open the ONTL 651 online course and discover we have to do audio introductions using Wimba. How the heck do I do that? How do I access it? After a few moments of my typical panic I feel my techno anger rising. One thing I did learn in the Intro class was to walk away when the blood starts boiling because no good will come of it. I shut the computer and turn on Two and a Half men. The next morning I easily figure out the Wimba voice intro and all is well again.
Until I read the announcement about facilitating a Wimba class for a week. Good Lord! I'm not prepared for this! I quickly sign up for a week I think will be interesting, building community and improving retention. What will we talk about? What will we do? What am I doing trying to learn how to teach online? Will we look like complete idiots? I guess we'll find out in a few weeks.
Fortunately, the topic is one I find very relevant to an online class. Building a sense of community in the online class is a challenge, but it can be done. And making sure students are learning and staying engaged in the online courses is so important. It will be important for us to do a good job on this important lesson for the rest of our classmates.
In the meantime, I'm trying not to panic and trust in the material we will learn in intervening weeks. In the Intro class we had a little Wimba discussion with a professor in Hawaii who had earned her online teaching certificate through GSU. Very cool. Wimba is an amazing tool for bringing people together. And despite my technophobia I'm looking forward to learning more about using it to facilitate an online class.
Bring it on? Yes, bring it on!
Until I open the ONTL 651 online course and discover we have to do audio introductions using Wimba. How the heck do I do that? How do I access it? After a few moments of my typical panic I feel my techno anger rising. One thing I did learn in the Intro class was to walk away when the blood starts boiling because no good will come of it. I shut the computer and turn on Two and a Half men. The next morning I easily figure out the Wimba voice intro and all is well again.
Until I read the announcement about facilitating a Wimba class for a week. Good Lord! I'm not prepared for this! I quickly sign up for a week I think will be interesting, building community and improving retention. What will we talk about? What will we do? What am I doing trying to learn how to teach online? Will we look like complete idiots? I guess we'll find out in a few weeks.
Fortunately, the topic is one I find very relevant to an online class. Building a sense of community in the online class is a challenge, but it can be done. And making sure students are learning and staying engaged in the online courses is so important. It will be important for us to do a good job on this important lesson for the rest of our classmates.
In the meantime, I'm trying not to panic and trust in the material we will learn in intervening weeks. In the Intro class we had a little Wimba discussion with a professor in Hawaii who had earned her online teaching certificate through GSU. Very cool. Wimba is an amazing tool for bringing people together. And despite my technophobia I'm looking forward to learning more about using it to facilitate an online class.
Bring it on? Yes, bring it on!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The end of the beginning
Here we are at the end of the Introduction to Online Teaching course and when I do a personal inventory I see I've learned how to create a blog, navigate around GSU's Web CT, participate in a Wimba classroom on the Internet, create a Wiki web page, and develop a rudimentary e-portfolio. And that's just the technical stuff.
Working with a group on the annotated bibliography was among the most interesting lessons during the second half of the class. Not only did I enjoy researching sites for teaching online in my field but I really liked working with my group. We are all in different fields and seeing their suggested sites and ideas was fun. As a writer I'm not often required to work collaboratively with others and it has been a good experience in this class.
And dare I admit this? I actually enjoyed learning how to use the Wiki Wetpaint although it was frustrating at first.For some reason, I could not write or edit on our page but once I stepped away and approached it with a cooler head the next day all was revealed. Throughout the course I had issues like that and finally learned to take a deep breath and close the computer when the furies raged. Inevitably, when I went back to the computer later I was usually able to solve the problem myself. Our professor, Jan Engle, once replied to a discussion post that problems with technology are common and rarely permanent and I found that to be true.
The less flashy, but perhaps more important, lessons I've learned involve teaching. As an adjunct media communications instructor with a very busy full-time career, I admit to sometimes relying on my tried and true curriculum to teach my courses. My student reviews are excellent (yes, we do read them!) and I know my students are learning a lot about news writing and reporting, but taking this online class has made me think about revamping my traditional classes with more active projects and an online component.
Since this was my first online course as well as my first education class I really appreciated the lessons on learning and teaching styles. Although we all know that teachers teach differently and students don't all learn the same way, seeing it in black-and-white helped me as a teacher and a student. Turns out I have the "expert" persona at the moment but would like to work toward a more facilitator role and incorporate more lessons for active learners.
The one challenge that concerns me is addressing the various learning styles both in the traditional and online classes. The curmudgeon in me wonders why teachers have to do the changing. Why aren't students required to adjust to the teacher's style?Are we coddling students too much these days? After all, in the professional environment you don't ask your boss to change to meet your demands. Or do you? Today's workplaces are not as vertically oriented as they used to be. Employees are empowered to suggest and implement changes that benefit customers and employees. Why shouldn't it be the same in education? It is a challenge to try and address the needs of 20 or more students with different skill levels and learning styles and abilities. But it is what we do as teachers. If they aren't learning and enjoying the course then I have failed at my job as an educator. That means I have to address their needs, not just my own.
In a way, I think the online course puts a greater onus on the student. In a traditional student a teacher can spot a struggling student or reiterate a point immediately. Online, the student has to be diligent about keeping up with the required work and reaching out to professors for assistance when needed. Keeping up with the work is paramount because each lesson is carefully structured to build upon the last. And despite impressions that online courses are easy, the workload is often greater for both teacher and student.
But there are myriad resources out there to help new online teachers develop their classes. Many were included in the course (I especially appreciated the Seven Principles and the 17 elements checklist) and many more were found as I looked for resources on on-line teaching of journalism and political science. Interestingly, there are many sites for online journalism teachers but few to assist those teaching political science online - a need that should be addressed since there are plenty of sites touting online political science degrees.
My own struggles with the intro class involved comfort with technology and time management. It was good for me to struggle with these issues since it gives me an accurate perspective of what it's like to be an online student. Although the Internet has made my business possible and opened up research in a way that still amazes me, I am not at ease with the computer. The least little glitch sends me into a panic. And I experienced several glitches during the course. Glitches that I worked out for myself thus increasing my own comfort level with the technology (constructivism at work!). Time management is an even bigger issue for me. With two jobs - one with no set schedule that has me at the beck and call of editors 24/7 - setting aside time for specific tasks is a challenge. But it must be done if I am to succeed in the certificate program and move on to teaching time-intensive online courses. And that is yet another lesson learned.
Working with a group on the annotated bibliography was among the most interesting lessons during the second half of the class. Not only did I enjoy researching sites for teaching online in my field but I really liked working with my group. We are all in different fields and seeing their suggested sites and ideas was fun. As a writer I'm not often required to work collaboratively with others and it has been a good experience in this class.
And dare I admit this? I actually enjoyed learning how to use the Wiki Wetpaint although it was frustrating at first.For some reason, I could not write or edit on our page but once I stepped away and approached it with a cooler head the next day all was revealed. Throughout the course I had issues like that and finally learned to take a deep breath and close the computer when the furies raged. Inevitably, when I went back to the computer later I was usually able to solve the problem myself. Our professor, Jan Engle, once replied to a discussion post that problems with technology are common and rarely permanent and I found that to be true.
The less flashy, but perhaps more important, lessons I've learned involve teaching. As an adjunct media communications instructor with a very busy full-time career, I admit to sometimes relying on my tried and true curriculum to teach my courses. My student reviews are excellent (yes, we do read them!) and I know my students are learning a lot about news writing and reporting, but taking this online class has made me think about revamping my traditional classes with more active projects and an online component.
Since this was my first online course as well as my first education class I really appreciated the lessons on learning and teaching styles. Although we all know that teachers teach differently and students don't all learn the same way, seeing it in black-and-white helped me as a teacher and a student. Turns out I have the "expert" persona at the moment but would like to work toward a more facilitator role and incorporate more lessons for active learners.
The one challenge that concerns me is addressing the various learning styles both in the traditional and online classes. The curmudgeon in me wonders why teachers have to do the changing. Why aren't students required to adjust to the teacher's style?Are we coddling students too much these days? After all, in the professional environment you don't ask your boss to change to meet your demands. Or do you? Today's workplaces are not as vertically oriented as they used to be. Employees are empowered to suggest and implement changes that benefit customers and employees. Why shouldn't it be the same in education? It is a challenge to try and address the needs of 20 or more students with different skill levels and learning styles and abilities. But it is what we do as teachers. If they aren't learning and enjoying the course then I have failed at my job as an educator. That means I have to address their needs, not just my own.
In a way, I think the online course puts a greater onus on the student. In a traditional student a teacher can spot a struggling student or reiterate a point immediately. Online, the student has to be diligent about keeping up with the required work and reaching out to professors for assistance when needed. Keeping up with the work is paramount because each lesson is carefully structured to build upon the last. And despite impressions that online courses are easy, the workload is often greater for both teacher and student.
But there are myriad resources out there to help new online teachers develop their classes. Many were included in the course (I especially appreciated the Seven Principles and the 17 elements checklist) and many more were found as I looked for resources on on-line teaching of journalism and political science. Interestingly, there are many sites for online journalism teachers but few to assist those teaching political science online - a need that should be addressed since there are plenty of sites touting online political science degrees.
My own struggles with the intro class involved comfort with technology and time management. It was good for me to struggle with these issues since it gives me an accurate perspective of what it's like to be an online student. Although the Internet has made my business possible and opened up research in a way that still amazes me, I am not at ease with the computer. The least little glitch sends me into a panic. And I experienced several glitches during the course. Glitches that I worked out for myself thus increasing my own comfort level with the technology (constructivism at work!). Time management is an even bigger issue for me. With two jobs - one with no set schedule that has me at the beck and call of editors 24/7 - setting aside time for specific tasks is a challenge. But it must be done if I am to succeed in the certificate program and move on to teaching time-intensive online courses. And that is yet another lesson learned.
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