I have continued to embrace online education, despite an initial resistance. I used to think online education was of a lesser quality than in-person instruction. How can online instruction be as effective as in-person instruction? And what does it look like? Does online instruction mean posting long lecture videos? Or providing slide contents to students? How do students engage with the material? How do they get to know each other, and me as their instructor? I had many critical questions about the value of online courses compared to in-person ones. These questions created an initial sense of skepticism.
I see providing online options as an equity issue -- some students are restricted in their ability to take in-person courses because of geography, as well as changing work and family commitments. At the same time, my views on the quality of online instruction have shifted significantly. Rather than view online education as being of lesser quality, I see a more nuanced set of strengths and limitations to both online and in-person instruction. I have learned there are a variety of practical tools and strategies that can be used to improve student engagement and learning in online modalities that I was not aware of before. I have learned about the importance of a warm instructor presence -- being a "warm demander" for my online students. The four principles of humanizing an online course -- trust, presence, awareness and empathy -- are not just abstract concepts, but can be concretely developed in the course presentation and interaction with students online. There are many practical tools and strategies than can build connection among course participants in a virtual learning space.
I feel a sense of excitement moving forward. I entered academia because I greatly value and enjoy working with students in the physical classroom. At the same time, I see tremendous possibilities in developing my own skill set as both an online and in-person educator. This Humanizing STEM faculty learning course has been a terrific launchpad to help me to continue to develop my knowledge and skills and to continue to grow as an educator.