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“Effective online teachers are present within their course.”
“Effective online teachers are present within their course.”
This Principle is the area I have improved upon the most over the past 6 months. I have worked in education my whole life, and love connecting with students, being in diverse communities, and spreading my love for my subject matter. However, I believe I hit a plateau in recent years. My content was not evolving much, and my courses became very “plug-n-play,” esp. for my online courses. I could lecture on autopilot, and had memorized every example and every joke like a broken record. No love was lost, but my fiery sense of curiosity had simmered. I stopped being a student.
After taking “Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning” I was reminded that in order to be an effective teacher, I must start my looking at my course with fresh eyes, like someone who has never seen this content before. In doing so, I was reminded that students actually DO want to know who I am, and want to see me as a coach, as someone they can access and relate to interpersonally. They don’t want simply to go through the motions, so why would I? Students want and need me to be interactive and share my passion for my content - and in real time, even if my course is asynchronous.
As a result of being more present in my class, I now:
As a result of being more present in my class, I now:
- Offer more social video content. Not every video is about course material, some are just me saying hello, or me offering timely advice, like “How to Manage Midterms.”
- Below is a video I sent students half-way through my Health Communication course last fall.
- Offer more redundant video content. Many videos I post now offer previews or reviews highlighting the main points from the course text book, or offer keys to assignment success.
- Offer more colloquial language in my emails, Announcements and other explanatory documents. Instead of speaking from an “Ivory Tower,”and timing email communication 3 weeks out, from behind an imaginary podium . . . I now send videos as if I am in the front of the classroom, sitting on a desk, and speaking from the heart, as if in real time. Now, I record, edit, and post video communication in the same day. I try to use clear and friendly language that is easy to follow as well as up lifting.
- For example, every Friday I send my students simple "have a nice weekend" message, where I often share a bit about how my week was, or weekend plans I have. See a screen shot of one below.
- Offer more 1:1 Office Hours. If a student reaches out with a question and still doesn’t understand after just 1 round of email responses, I set up an Office Hour with them. We get to build a stronger relationship, and I always learn a new perspective on what is potentially confusing within my course.
- Offer more exemplary images, video clips, and social media. I am building a larger library of models, memes, YouTube segments, and Buzz Feed articles that illustrate concepts within given learning units. This keeps my course fresh, entertaining, and accessible.
- For example, in my Interpersonal Communication class we talk about consent, and I offer this clip from Grey's Anatomy the TV show as an example:
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