Reflection on Teaching SPLH 566s 

My teaching development at the University of Kansas has been shaped by two formative experiences: my in-person directed teaching and asynchronous online instruction in SPLH 566. Each offered distinct challenges and insights that significantly influenced my thinking about pedagogy, engagement, and instructional design. 

During the in-person SPLH 566, I worked directly with students in a face-to-face environment. This experience allowed me to experiment with real-time facilitation, monitor classroom energy, and respond to students’ needs as they emerged in the moment. I enjoyed building rapport through spontaneous discussion, collaborative tasks, and body language cues that can only be observed in person. I could also adjust my pacing and content delivery based on student reactions—whether through pauses, questions, or moments of silence. Being able to respond to students in real time gave me a better sense of how to adjust my teaching and manage class flow more effectively. It also helped me become more confident in my presence as an instructor.

On the other hand, teaching SPLH 566 asynchronously was my first time leading a fully online course in the U.S. Using Canvas as the platform, I worked within a flipped classroom structure, which challenged me to rethink how I approached student engagement, communication, and lesson timing. Without the benefit of live interaction, I focused on designing a clear, supportive course structure to help students feel connected and confident as they navigate the material independently. The course was hosted on Canvas and followed a flipped classroom model, which pushed me to approach things like student interaction, pacing, and communication in new ways. Since we weren’t meeting live, I wanted to ensure students felt connected and supported. I began the course with a friendly welcome message and organized the content into clearly labeled modules. I also used discussion boards and regular announcements to create a sense of continuity and help students feel grounded as they worked through the material at their own pace.

While the flexibility of asynchronous learning appealed to many students, it also surfaced new challenges. I found that some students tended to leave assignments until the end of the week, resulting in a surge of questions—often late on weekends. This prompted me to set clearer time management expectations and encourage earlier engagement with materials. At the same time, I had to learn how to balance being accessible with setting clear boundaries. Communicating when and how I’d be available for questions became essential—managing my time and maintaining consistent student support.   

These teaching experiences challenged me differently and helped me grow as an educator. In the in-person SPLH 566, I learned how to foster dynamic classroom dialogue, scaffold complex ideas in real-time, and incorporate interactive techniques like pair work or group work tasks to promote inclusive participation. In the virtual SPLH 566, I developed a stronger sense of instructional design—how to build learning paths, sequence materials, and maintain instructor presence even when I wasn’t physically or synchronously present.

Importantly, these two teaching contexts made me more intentional about student autonomy. In person, I had more control over the pacing and structure. Online, students had greater flexibility, but that also meant greater responsibility. I had to learn to guide without micromanaging, anticipate common confusion, and proactively address it through clear instructions, rubrics, and examples.

These experiences helped me become a more adaptable educator who can navigate both synchronous and asynchronous environments and sees value in flexibility, structure, and responsiveness. They also deepened my understanding of student support: not only how to be present but how to be predictably available, clear, and encouraging, no matter the modality. Moving forward, I plan to blend the best of both worlds—bringing intentional structure to in-person classes and human warmth to online ones.