Constantinos Scaros

About me

Hello everyone!

I have been an online instructor for many years now, and I have developed online learning platforms when online learning was new and novel. I have worked with state education departments and accrediting agencies about the essence of online education vis-a-vis the promulgation of laws and accreditation guidelines, in my capacity as an academic dean and education attorney.

Most of all, I love to teach, and online courses are great, because my students are from all over the country, and sometimes from various other parts of the world! In the end, taking all the bells and whistles and gadgets and tecchie terminology off the table, it all comes down to good ol' fashioned teaching. It's either good, or it's not.

The secret to a great college is: 1) finding administrators who ARE great teachers themselves, so that they know how to spot other great teachers, and 2) actually staffing classes with such great teachers. Fulfilling these two steps is all it takes - whether in a conventional or online learning forum.

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Constantinos Scaros

Blog Comment

EL112

It was a good course, though I would have liked to see a section on the role administrators can play in reducing faculty chores of sifting through repetitive emails - particularly for instructions whose only connection to the particular college is through teaching one course online.

As the course aptly points out, instructors who teach online often piece together a workweek consisting of multiple employers. In order to ensure that these faculty members pay attention to what's REALLY important, there should be a minimum number of emails sent out that obfuscate the entire inbox collection.

Constantinos Scaros

Blog

Value Added Learning

I am happy to see emphasis placed on value-added learning. I use this when demonstrating to students the importance of frequent source citation in their papers.

For instance, early on in the term, when students do not cite frequently, I dock points substantially, so that they become aware of this critical factor. As they progress throughout the course, though, and learn how to cite properly, I apply the value-added approach, realizing that, had they been given their Week 1 assignments now, they would have cited sources frequently and otherwise properly.

The concept of value-added eduation, one of many examples of… >>>

Constantinos Scaros

Blog

Some Good Points, Could Have Been Better

As someone who has been involved with online education in its very early iterations, I have seen the process evolve and was, and remain, a big fan overall.

It is important, however, to note that, although replicating the face-to-face classroom experience as much as possible in the online setting is optimal, there are some obvious disadvantages that will not go away.

One of them is overcrowding - not just of classes, but of faculty. It is very hard to maintain quality control, and too often, the emphasis is not on actual teaching ability, but rather on satisfying administrative minutiae. … >>>

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