Janis,
You are right and you can provide "individualized" help by addressing deficiencies with resources that you have.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I believe it is a good idea to continually assess your strengths and weaknesses as an instructor. I use my students' end-of-course comments in my self-analysis because the longer I teach a course, the more likely I am to fall into patterns. Some are good-when I consistently see comments that I am easy to reach or give plenty of details about assignment expectations. However, online instructors can become complacent or lose focus. Without 20 sets of eyeballs responding to you in a face to face lecture, we may fall into patterns that do not reinforce learning or get off topic in an online lecture.
I also like to keep current on technological skills. If I don't take time each semester to see what is new and how I can integrate it into my online course, my course can become boring or stagnant.
Jodi,
I agree with you. We do fall into patterns and we tend to teach to the way we learn. If we don't look at that and look at student comments we aren't really utilizing data well are we? I suspect you change your course a little bit each time you teach it.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Self-analysis inventory allows me to address my strengths and weaknesses in a broad range of my instructor/SME/mentor experiences, activities, course subjects, and provide myself with an opportunity to investigate and obtain knowledge for constant improvement. By defining and evaluating these skills, I can develop research and enhance my understanding of methods and approaches that help myself, my students and my university/college.
Steven,
Nice post. I also think as an instructor you are modeling to your students how use that information should you choose to share it with them. Many students don't know how to self evaluate. This is such an important skill.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dr. Wilkinson, it is important for me, as an online instructor to complete a self-analysis inventory because it presumably will help me to determine if I will be a good online instructor. When I started online teaching, I thought that I was awful. Fortunately, I was also an online student pursuing my doctorate at the same time. The skills that I acquired as an effective instructor currently was as a result of what not to do, and what I should do to be effective because of the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of my Phd instructors.
Tina,
Great post! Did you know research shows the best way to be a good online instructor is to be an online student! That shouldn't be surprising as how many times have we said we do something or don't do something in our f2f courses because of an experience we had in our on education. It is important that we learn from both bad and good experiences.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Just as the Ancient Greeks carve in stone " Know thyself"
It is good practice to know your strengths and weaknesses in any environment.
What do you think?
Jean Graham
Jean,
Yes, you have to know what your strengths and weaknesses are particularly in learning. You also hope this fosters life-long learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The self analysis is a way for the instructor to recognize his or her own strengths and weaknesses and make changes. For example, if you find that you are not as skilled in certain areas of technology, you can work with a course mentor or complete a training to get familiar with particular LMS in order to improve in this weaker area. Just as we want our students to develop and improve based on their self analysis, so too do we as instructors want to do the same.
Stephanie
Stephanie,
I love your statement regarding our roles as educators to model behavior and that includes self analysis and self improvement. That is so important for the student and for us!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The primary importance of completing a self-analysis inventory is that it helps an individual to determine if they have what it takes to be an effective online instructor. Once weaknesses are identified, then they can be addressed by the instructor and those who are supervising/coaching the instructor. The hope, is that techniques can then be adopted to help the instructor be the best they can be for their students.
I would like to add that this self-assessment process needs to continue throughout the instructor's teaching tenure. It is easy for instructors to become effective instructors and then inadvertently become complacent because their techniques and processes have always worked for them. To grow and evolve as an instructor, one must periodically "pull back" and not only revisit those initial readiness questions--but also determine what needs to be done to further develop and stay ahead of the curve.
Our course materials speak of "desire" to teach online and this is much different than an "ability" to teach online. I feel that both are absolutely necessary for a student to have the best experience possible. They will see ability in the clarity of instructions and delivery of material; but desire is most often felt. It is that intangible element that helps motivate a student who is struggling to perform or that propels another to enthusiastically recommend your class even when they didn't earn an "A".
A question that I would like to ask my colleagues is if anyone out there has an online persona that is dramatically different from their usual persona (e.g. you are extroverted online but more introverted/reserved in real life). If so, do you do this because you feel that your institution expects it? Does it ever begin to feel contrived or disingenuous? Or, are you absolutely genuinely "you" online and off? Just curious...
Tamara ,
You make a great point about "pulling back". We do tend to barrel through courses without really taking a look at content and delivery. Do they fit and do they fit what I am doing? This is so important.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Hello Kelly-
Online self-analysis is important for both online students and instructors. It is important for students in order to assess whether they have the motivation and are willing to gain the necessary skills to become good online students.
For instructors, the self-analysis is important to explore whether they are well prepared to become effective online instructors.
All Instructors whether they are online or on ground have different teaching styles, strengths, and weaknesses and it's important for the instructors to know and to also acknowledge them, and improve upon them to become an effective teacher in the online environment.
Online instructors should be aware about whether they have the technology to facilitate the class and if they feel comfortable using them. In my view, in order for the instructor to be a good and effective online instructor they must have taken an online course to experience the different tasks associated with it because it is important to get a feel for an online course from the students' perspective.
By completing a self-analysis inventory, instructor will be able to know whether he/she has the desire and the skill necessary to be an online instructor.
Raouf ,
t
What a great post! Like you said, it should not depend on the type of environment to do a self analysis. I think we are more apt to analyze ourselves in an environment we aren't familiar with.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Instructors must complete an inventory to determine what their strengths and areas of opportunities lies. Instructors should allocate extra time in areas that are challenging for them as well as allocate less time for areas of experience and strength. A self-analysis inventory helps the instructor identify these areas.
Rene,
You make such an important point. You do need to make sure you have time to address your weakness more than just giving it lip services. Time must be used to divert it.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The "correct" answer is why a self-analysis inventory is important is to identify missing or weak skills. I have found that it is also important to re-test those skills because the environment often changes. Often without your knowledge. I have had several situations in the past where I assumed something would work and it didn't.
I had to conduct an online class while traveling one time and didn't think it would be an issue because I would be using the same laptop and my hotel had a high speed internet connection. It turned out that I did not know how to connect to that high speed internet connection and the class was delayed.
Ron,
What a great point. Why do we think once we take a self-analysis we don't have to again. we do change, evolve. We have to continually assess ourselves regarding skills. It is a way we practice lifelong learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
For the same reason we ask students to complete a self-analysis: a starting point for growth and improvement. Without a starting point how do we know the skills that we need to work on, or the technology that we need to enhance so we can move forward?
