So... you want to teach online??

Course Objectives

• To gain a better understanding of how to communicate in an online environment
• To understand the differences between teaching face to face and teaching virtually
• To examine teaching traits that are effective within the online environment
• To gain a better understanding of how students will learn in a virtual world

Teaching online is, and should be, different than teaching in a brick and mortar¹ classroom.

There are commonalities, and much of what you know about curriculum and instruction apply, but there are also differences. One thing that we have learned over the years is that adults and kids learn very differently in the online envionrment and interpret this medium in different ways.

This course is designed to provide you with strategies that will help you begin your journey towards becoming an effective online teacher.

¹ Terminology that is commonplace in the world of Online Learning (OLL) such as f2f (Face-to-face) and BAM (brick and mortar). These two terms are often used to describe teaching in a classroom. There are others, but these two are most popular at the present time.

This session begins by examining the benefits of online learning.  It encourages  you to consider what your online persona will include and how you  communicate that persona to your students.

Objectives:

• Identify an advantage of online learning to post in the forum
• Select an appropriate online persona
• Consider methods for revealing the "real" you online

Watch Jared Stein discuss the value and potential of online learning (OLL) during this overview video.  Listen for a key point that resonates with you. In the forum below, introduce yourself and tell us more about the teacher who impacted you the most. For example, one participant may choose to respond to a quote, mentioned in the video. What connections did you make with one or more teachers?

In the book, The Excellent Online Instructor, authors Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt define establising presence as "...the process of demonstrating to others who we are in the online environment, as well as making social connections with others who share that environment with us." (p. 7)

Research  has shown that students who feel a presence or persona from their online instructor shows that they feel that the instructor is paying attention to them and their needs.  In return, this encourages students to have their own sense of presence which displays the level of student learning.

Several theories say that people tend to have a different persona online than they do in a face to face setting.  Knowing this, people tend to behave differently in both settings.  Are people more assertive online or are they simply less skilled at expressing opinions in writing?  One of the biggest challenges will be to engage your online voice or persona so it shines through as a teacher. 

Teaching online takes away the ability to deliver your persona through facial expressions and vocal inflection.  Now you have to consider how you translate what you would do in class to a primarily text-based online environment. 

Now it's time for a brief work/play session. Read the article entitled, "Online Disinhibition Effect" and reflect on examples of this behavior in the forum. Read the second article, "The Emerging Persona of Online Teachers." See if there is a comment you'd like to add to the forum about this article. Finally, have a few giggles and watch the "Big Bang Theory" clip! How do people change in an online environment?

Keys to a successful student-centered online persona include the following components:

• aware of communication metaphors - not all students may understand your jokes or lingo.
• treats each online student as a unique individual.
• actively contributes to a positive emotional climate -keep in mind in a text-based environment we can't always judge how someone is feeling or acting that day.  Staying positive provides feedback and builds trust.
• looks for opporutnities to treat students like regular human beings.
• aware that students are not going to be "chatty", at least in an online course.  Several social media options are preferable; don't be offended if they aren't talkative.
• take a firm stance,  being a "buddy" is doomed from the start.  For many students, this may be their first online learning experience.  Teach them that not all online experiences are social and recreational.  First and foremost, learning is the priority.
• Google yourself.  Students will instinctively want to learn more about you and this is what they will do first.  Make sure what students learn is what you intended for them to know about you.

The different perspectives of presence and persona (Based upon the work of Rosemary Lehman)

Social Presence

Social presence is vastly important in establishing your online voice and persona.  This allows students to see you as a "real" person.  Social presence can focus on connections made between online users on an academic level and also on a personal level by sharing things in common.  In a face to face setting, adults use light conversation to establish commonalities associated wtih children, hobbies, and work. We prefer interaction with people whom we share interests and travel in the same circles.  This is probably one of the reasons Facebook is so popular as a social networking vehicle.

Psychological Presence

Psychological presence is an "...experiential state enabling organization members to draw deeply on their personal selves...." -Kahn. Users don't even acknowledge or view technology as a critical part of the learning experience.  Technology becomes transparent to all participants allowing them to feel connected or part of a similar community in the same "room".  Many users feel that technology is an integrated part of who they are like another appendage.  We often joke about people who appear addicted to text messaging or Facebook.  Rethink this premise as it could be tied to their psychological presence.

Emotional Presence

Emotional presence is the ability to show feelings and emotions through words, symbols or other kinds of interactions with others.  Emotional presence allows for receiving, processing and communicating information with an emotional feel or tone.  Of the three presences discussed, this is the most difficult to communicate in a text-based environment.  Outstanding writers have a talent for establishing emotional presence. It takes practice to communicate this way and know that the recipient clearly understands your message.