My Journey With Teaching Online Versus F2F at Two Universities

My Journey With Teaching Online Versus F2F at Two Universities

Josh Norman

Shokei University

While teaching full time at Shokei University and part-time at Kumamoto University this semester, I have had the experience of having to teach both almost exclusively F2F classes as well as all online. Each university has a different LMS (Google Classroom or Moodle) and different requirements for their online lessons, including having to show one’s face or not and which online streaming video provider must be used (Google Meet or Zoom). As with many other educators, I myself had not used online streaming services for university classes before, so the transition was a bumpy one at first. In this presentation, I would first like to briefly explain my online/F2F journey thus far at each university. Then I will compare and contrast Google Classroom and Moodle, as well as Google Meet and Zoom, followed by my reasoning as to which LMS and which streaming video provider I think is the better choice from the perspective of a beginner. I will also explain how the availability of an online option when needed for students who are currently taking my F2F classes has been a tremendous help during the recent heavy rains here in Kumamoto Prefecture, and how the necessity of having to do online lessons has forever changed my career for the better. My presentation will thus focus on my overall teacher career journey and will be given as a voiceover of a slideshow presentation.