Everyone who teaches has pedagogy, a style that expresses their “art and science of teaching.” So what has changed with the additional information and experience I have gained from online teaching? My pedagogy has become more purposeful and focused. Teaching and designing online classes requires instructors to plan for many eventualities and challenges. Therefore the pedagogical style changes to a less intuitive and more conscious intentional approach to make the class more effective in an online environment.
An unplanned additional benefit to becoming certified in online teaching is that my education now includes pedagogical principles, and educational strategies. Like many instructors in higher education, my degrees are in the field I will teach. Despite my content experience and exposure to teaching I have gained from being a graduate assistant, I decided to gain this certification to give me an edge in the currently depressed job market. I believed it would provide a certification and skills that some of my fellow job seekers lack. I hoped it would qualify me to more opportunities and I would not be restricted to local jobs.At the time I had not considered that I would be gaining knowledge and experience in education, or that the new skills I have gained would transfer to make my face 2 face teaching more effective.
Many teachers have a natural gift for providing a dynamic and engaging experience for their students. Sometimes they intuitively offer active learning experiences to the class. Because providing these experiences in the online environment must be planned and requires extra clarification and clear directions, I will never approach the face 2 face teaching without these factors consciously considered or implemented in my traditional classes.
The Seven Principles of Effective Teaching have found a new home in online teaching. Student-instructor interactions are some of the most satisfactory components in teaching. The myth that these interactions are diminished in online teaching is simply not true. As a student I knew that interactions, when a class is designed and facilitated correctly could be extremely effective. The process begins with simple tools like welcome emails. The interactions continue throughout the course in feedback, responses, synchronous lectures, asynchronous discussion, and assessments that are compliant with syllabus and rubrics.
Student to student interactions should be incorporated into the course. Ice breakers, group activities, student introductions and class rosters with pictures begin to build a sense of community in the classroom. When students feel part of this learning community they are more successful. There is an assumption that online classrooms lack a learning community and that student’s feel isolated. I have found this is not always the case. In the majority of my internet classes, I have interacted more with my peers than I do in a classroom. Some of my more introverted peers feel more comfortable contributing to class in a online written format.
A well-organized class includes more than these interactions. It includes an intuitive navigation, a syllabus, an orientation, links to resources, and an accurate class calendar that reinforces due dates, deadlines and class events. A course question discussion topic and a chat discussion topic should be included. Course question that are posted and answered, save students and instructors from asking and answering the same questions twice. Chats improve setting the stage for a learning community.
Timely replies, appropriate turn around time on grading and proper management techniques that are employed from start to finish leaves instructors more time to teach. Course management systems help instructors manage their class, so being proficient in this technology is key. To complement my technical skills I have become proficient in basic html, using search engines efficiently and various external tools like google documents and wiki’s. Obviously, the technical abilities I gain will be a lifelong process due to the ever-changing computer world.
