Feedzilla is a free RSS feed and they offer lots of choices of topic matter. I have included the link for your reference: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/headlines/society/education.rss (I have also included a view of this RSS feed at the bottom of my blog.) The article that I am reviewing for you today is located under the subheading of society and is an educational news source. An article that caught my eye today was entitled: "What does it take to teach online?" by Jamie Littlefield. I included the link for your reference: http://distancelearn.about.com/b/2010/10/27/what-does-it-take-to-teach-online.htm The article itself was short and sweet. She noted that online teaching is not for everyone. She also noted that just because a teacher is effective in a face-to-face environment does not mean that they will be when teaching online. What I really appreciated was a link to another article entitled: "How to get a job teaching online." You might just want to check it out! I printed out a copy for my reference for later.
Reference:
Littlefield, Jamie (2010, Oct. 27). What does it take to teach online? Distance Learning Guide. Retrieved Oct. 31, 2010, from http://distancelearn.about.com/b/2010/10/27/what-does-it-take-to-teach-online.htm
Almost weekly, I have a discussion with an instructor about online learning. The majority that I deal with say that the online environment is impersonal and that the classroom discussions are vital to the class, especially those subjects like philosophy adn human sexuality. An online student made an interesting comment to me. She was in the middle of her first face-to-face class and said that the didn't like it because the classroom discussions went off-topic and were wasting time. She stated in her opinion, the discussion boards in the online classes stayed on topic and were more efficient. I had never heard that point of view before.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have researched and learned, the design of the online class makes the biggest difference. I think we have experienced a number of different ways to design and roll out an online course in the 3 classes that we have had. Each has been different - but this class has required the most interaction. For a hybrid online class that I teach - I encourage the students to let me know when their is a specific personal event in their life that they would like to share. I then set up a special optional discussion (that I might award a couple of extra points to). The students really seem to enjoy and appreciate it. One student's step-father passed away - and she gained strength and support from the other students responses.
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