I am thrilled to have this opportunity to experience learning in the same online environment that my current students use. It’s been several years since I completed my studies using tools that have been improved and expanded recently. Almost every morning as I head back up to my alma mater, I do say “I’m just glad I’ve graduated” – out loud! And that’s true especially as I the end of the Fall 2009 UTTC faculty training fast approaches. Learning online requires as much – if not more – discipline than teaching online – which has highly-motivating incentive. My personal sensitivities to reducing the number of user clicks required to get from point A to point B, designing visually-pleasing page layouts that provide for easy reference, and building in flexible options to make the experience as meaningful as possible to each individual have been validated.

Working alongside colleagues from across the system has been most enriching. I’m blown away by the talent and creativity – passion – evidenced in the work of just these few faculty and staff. I’ve seen some great models that will be incorporated in future iterations of my own work and have come up with some of my own new ideas that will improve my current practice eventually. Hearkening back to one of my first DE presentations though, I must also remind myself that it’s okay to take it one step at a time. Glimpsing the variety of innovative ‘teachniques’ shared in this training session (and at events like the IOL conferences) motivates me to keep trying out new technologies that may ‘click’ for my students, the future educators of our children!

If you are relatively new to online teaching, please describe an area of concern that you may anticipate will cause frustration. For example, “I feel that I will be frustrated that I can’t get to know my students since I cannot see their smiling faces.”

If you have some experience as an online instructor, please describe an early frustrating situation or area of concern you had and how you have addressed it.

Perpetual ‘glass head’ syndrome continues to be the most frustrating challenge for me as an online educator.  Because I focus on concepts rather than specific cases, I’ve been able to use the same basic course content for several years. And that means that I and the lessons have moved through several different course delivery products and versions. Thankfully I’ve been able to maintain a ‘student view’ of each iteration. But, I still know where I want them to go and that makes it hard for me to see where the course doesn’t make sense.

One summer I was just beside myself and got so tired of the complaints (in a graduate education course) that I set up a discussion forum just for suggestions on a particular aspect that seemed to be driving us all crazy. One ambitious student actually provided constructive input that resulted in my expanding the class schedule in a way that seems to have solved the problem. The intended process was described in the course orientation, but it never hit home until it was made explicit in the syllabus.

When I’m learning alongside my students is when we both gain the most, so my advice to newer online educators would be to first make sure you’ve done your homework (check it out from their perspective), then pay attention to what’s going on each semester. You’ll be able to pinpoint troublespots and know how to ask for help if a resolution isn’t obvious to you. Everyone’s learning experience will be improved in the long run!

Take stock of your pedagogical approach and ask yourself:

I think that using reflection in this course is appropriate and will be effective. Most course development focuses on the future… All the hype of new possibilities tends to overpower the lessons to be learned from past experience, prior knowledge, and larger contexts.

What are your thoughts on using a blog for these purposes?

In my case, the technology is impeding the creativity, but this is something I’ve wanted to learn how to do. Personally, I don’t think I like the way blogs seem to flow quite freely; I prefer to structure information by topic or purpose more than the way I see blogs as a chronology. One of my greatest pleasures is to hand-write in a dedicated paper journal so I admit extreme bias!