Facilitating an online classroom has many similarities to a face-to-face classroom. The guiding themes for both types of courses beginnings are presence, community, and clear expectations. However, facilitating an online classroom will challenge your perceptions of time. Having students in your virtual classroom [not directly in your physical presence] forces you to structure your time, the manner in which you communicate, and having all learning objectives, course content, student assessments, and learning activities set and ready to go from Day 1. Being prepared, organized, and having a plan to facilitate your online class will allow you to manage the experience to the benefit of your students' learning and your sanity.
Terms used in this unit: assessment strategies, course management, equitable learning environment, explicit expectations, formative assessment, implicit expectations, inclusive strategies, online community, online presence, summative assessment, teaching management, and time management.
Course management: an approach to managing the aspects of an online course.
Equitable learning environment: providing all students what they need to learn.
Explicit expectations: effective, meaningful direct instructions.
Implicit expectations: instructional tasks that do not provide specific guidance on what is to be learned from the task.
Inclusive strategies: any number of teaching approaches that address the needs of students with a variety of backgrounds, learning modalities, and abilities.
Online community: a virtual community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet, Blackboard and the suite of Google tools.
Online presence: is the process of presenting a personal, academic or professional brand online.
Teaching management: the methods and strategies an educator uses to maintain a classroom environment that is conducive to student success and learning.
Time management: the ability to use one's time effectively or productively.
Teaching Principles. Carnegie Mellon University Eberly Center Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation. Retrieved from: https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/principles/teaching.html#T2
Assessing Online Facilitation Instrument (2007). CSU Center for Distributed Learning. Retrieved from: http://www2.humboldt.edu/aof/AssessingOnlineFacilitationInstrument.pdf
A Checklist for Facilitating Online Courses (2010. February 8) Bart, Mary. Faculty Focus. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/a-checklist-for-facilitating-online-courses/
Inclusive Strategies Reflection. University of Michigan. Retreived from: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wsoF0NgRbj1IZFM8H7FXydbBgxUlKfQchwHLrjMQu8E/edit?usp=sharing
I Am Not a Robot. (2019) Price, K and Price, J Julia. Faculty Focus. Retrieved from: https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/i-am-not-a-robot
Carol Dweck researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain's capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solved it yet? A great introduction to this influential field.