LIFELONG LEARNING

Explanation of Lifelong Learning Principle

Because technology is dynamic, our understanding of the most effective and responsive means to connect with students must be as dynamic. Ongoing professional development, then, is a central component to effective online teaching.

Within the CCC ecosystem, some ways faculty can meet this principle are by:

• Participating in the CCC community of practice, including, but not limited to, CCC sponsored webinars, blogs, newsletters, and social media;
• Attending conferences focused on online teaching, including the Online Teaching Conference and other in person events;
• Engaging in ongoing professional development for online instructors;
• Sharing in discipline-specific conversations about online teaching.

The First Step

When I started taking the @One classes, I had been teaching as a Part-time Faculty member for less than a year. In the Fall, I taught a Business Law class on the college campus and a Business Administration class at a local high school. In the Spring, I taught Business Law on campus again. I listened to a couple of audio books for advice on how to teach, which I found useful. I sat in on about five hours of Canvas classes, which were geared toward online instructors. In order to become eligible to teach online classes, I needed to obtain a certificate in online learning.

Training

In the last year, I have taken eight @ONE classes. Although they involved many hours of challenging work, I have been enjoying the process. I would watch one suggested video and then end up watching others that were related. The assignments in many of the courses pushed me to go beyond what I thought my limits were technologically, much in the same way as training for a marathon requires pushing oneself to the limits. Having assignments that made me utilize the tools I was learning about was both humbling and empowering. Physically doing these tasks reinforced skills instead of having them become a distant memory.

I attended the Open Educational Resources Initiative Meeting October 26, 2019. One of purposes was to connect instructors who taught subjects where there were not as many OER materials available and to discover why the instructors were reluctant to utilize OER.

In It for the Long Run

• Continue learning about teaching and online education. I am still on the uphill side of the learning curve, so I have a long way to go.
• Take the @One 10:10:10 Communication class in May.
• Take advantage of as many workshops and meetings at the college as I can. This year the college has started having special workshops for adjunct instructors. I haven't been able to attend due to my work schedule, but they look like they would be incredibly useful.
• Peruse the CCC website, blogs and social media for new ideas, resources, speakers, and general support. I am registered for some of the Racial Equity in Online Environment webinars.
• Develop an online Human Resource Management course using OER, since that ties in well with my education and experience. It will take time to curate current, relevant information and put it in an easily digestible format.
• Take Continuing Education in Fiduciary Management and Law. For the continuing legal education, I will take as many classes as I can that relate to education laws. Both the fiduciary and legal professions are recognizing the importance of understanding equity and diversity.
• Learn new skills in the webinars that I review as part of my non-teaching job, which involves professional development for the staff.
• Watch TED talks for big picture theories and YouTube for functional how-to's. There are so many tools that I still need to learn about and use.
• Continue to set new goals to stay current and improve as an educator. Research, technology and changing circumstances will require me to continue to learn and adapt. I am looking forward to being part of the online learning evolution.