With regards to: Online Teaching Techniques and its application, I learned in this course, that to become a good online instructor, I need to realize my effective level of preparedness, my transition into the responsibilities and roles used with teaching online and how to become effective and be efficient with the management of my students in this unique learning environment. I also learned that I need and will use techniques like projection of my authority and presence as an instructor in this e-learning setting, I will build an educational relationship with each student, encourage their positive participation and constructive feedback. I will also manage effective communications and manage unacceptable behavior and disagreement resolutions throughout. Likewise, I will employ the characteristics of quality online courses such as: structural integrity, navigational simplicity, intellectual interaction and an active learner centered system. I will utilize the knowledge that Modules and Lessons are the most popular course structure, employ the fact that a Course Management System - is the best online delivery paltform in an online environment; as well as tracking the performance of my students and their grades. I will also keep in mind the causitive facts of online student frustrations and the values of Technical support avaiability and interactions. I will familiarize myself with the course delivery techniques and strategies which are essential in my becoming an effective online instructor.
its important the content is engaging so stuents are connected to the material and can be involved in it. they also need to feel they have the support and connection to the insructor.
I learned that familiarizing yourself with the course delivery techniques and strategies is tremendously important. one it's important for you to know how to navigate so that you can prepare your course but also so that you can frame activities and requirements well for the students. One technique was having a navigational simplicity of showing the course and the modules and how the lessons of broken down so that the students can see where things are going and how they sort of fit together.
I learned that online teaching techniques should follow a tranparent format for best student learning means. Although teaching strategies do vary, the delivery with online teaching should be consistent. Also, knowing the essential tech support will by key in reducing learning frustrations.
It is interesting to see read and listen to the responsibilities of the instructor and what the CMS should be able to do as we are shifting from the classroom to the online platform. Much of the technological supports are still missing at my district and create prohibitive practices for effective online instruction.
I have learned that there will be several ways that I will be able interact with the students and keep them engaged during online activity.
As I am not only particpating in Distance Learning for my students, I am also mid-program for my Master's degree. I have learned all of the necessary steps my professors have had to be trained on and complete just to work through our online courses. With this thorough understand of what it entails, it has put me more at ease in knowing that I have completed most of these steps. While I am not a fan of online learning fore myself as a student, I now feel prepared to teach online.
I will create my units based on my previous class had have a google slides for each lesson that will include topcis surrounding the content to help them digest it in small pieces
Communication is Key with our students. Having an understanding of the content of what I am teaching and How I am teaching is Key. Be available for your students.
I understand having structure with online courses, but believe it will be hard to figure out each student personality any ideas.
Having a simple to follow content in the modules is key. As an online learner and instructor I notice that the simpler the outline the better the learners' outcomes will be.
Confirming my institution's e-learing model and guidlines. I am reviewing my roles as an instructor and making adjustments. In particular, to the current online only dleivery platform we are all experiencing.
It's mportant to learn the CMS. As an online instuctor ther are many ways to interact wiht students. Good communiction with students is essential.
This module gives an excellent overview as to how online courses should be structured and administered. Having completed my Masters Degree online at University of Phoenix, I'm very familiar with being a student in an online class environment over a long period of time (2 years). Over time, it became easy to spot the professors that were not familiar with using the University of Phoenix CMS and / or administering a particular class or program module.
Support from our professors for students in that graduate level online environment (in our case, all of the students were full time teachers) was very important. Factors that complicated and / or impeded our progress were ongoing changes to the course syllabus being made by the different professors who administered a particular online class or program module and a constant steam of new (first time online professors) who were not familiar with the latest changes to the class syllabus, or how to administer the University of Phoenix CMS system. The result of all this was a lot of student confusion and frustration and the quality of each class experience could vary widely, depending on which online professor administered / taught your class.
The instructor should be well versed with the CMS and course structure. The course should be laid out by modules and then broken down accordingly. Navigation should be easy along with a well-planned time frame for work.
It is very important to learn and understand all the features of our system's CMS. This will make us more effective in using the CMS as an actual instructional platform as opposed to just a repository of worksheets. Course structure is also very important to maintain student engagement and involvement
To me the biggest standout in this module is the importance of providing both learning and technical support. I believe that most teachers are comfortable with creating and implementing learning support structures in an e-learning environment as many of them can be implemented from traditional classroom environments. However, I believe that technical support can easily be looked over as we often see current students as "tech experts" that do not need technical support. Often times we may assume that e-learning assignments that are incomplete or not submitted are results of lack of effort or forgetfulness, when the reason could easily be a lack of technical support and a fear of "asking for trivial help".
I will apply what I have learned in this module by providing students with access to technical support (i.e. documents and videos for navigating the CMS). This technical support would be offered as a section in the CMS at the beginning of the course, and in the form of a follow-along walkthrough guide. This would ensure students have access to technical support at any time, and would eliminate any fear of seeking it out. I believe coupling this with set office hours would ensure technical support was properly provided.
I am not a natural online learner so I was nervous about becoming an online instructor.
I now understand how important is for me to familiarize myself with the CMS and all aspects of the online learning environment so I can help my students be as comfortable as possible in the online class.
Learned that being organized will bring success to the students and instructors.
It is important to be supportive of our students. Some may have technology challenges and we need to be able to guide them to success.
