Online Teaching; It is Happening
I took a training course in online teaching through Front Range Community College almost two years ago (summer 2018), hoping to teach English comp online, asynchronously. I never thought it made for the ideal class setting, but having those skills seemed pretty important in today's day and age. I had the chance to use them a little when I was a success coach a year ago (spring and summer 2019) for a developmental English comp class, and that was good experience. I learned a lot both of online teaching tools and skills but also about some of the developments in the psychology of learning. The unideal part was confirmed, though. I don't think I would recognize any of those students if I ran into them, and even if they told me their name and recognized me from the videos I made, I wouldn't be able to remember anything about them. But I generally did enjoy the teaching part of the coaching--preparing videos, editing some assignment descriptions (most of the assignments were pre-made and recycled) and commenting on students' discussion boards.
All of that was asynchronous, though. Now, thanks to the Corona Virus scare, I'm doing the teaching part, not just coaching, and it's synchronous. It's still not ideal. I can't see all of their faces all the time, and some I don't see at all because not all students have put pictures up and some aren't joining the video aspect. I would love to see their faces, though. That's one of the things I love about teaching--the interactiveness about it--seeing how they're learning, seeing them be entertained, or uplifted, or even annoyed or frustrated; talking to them one-on-one as I mingle among groups or pairs of students talking. On the positive side, I can still hear all of their feelings in their voices. And I'm oh so glad I started the semester face-to-face with them so that I know them a bit and can interpret what I hear in those voices a little better. And, of course, I do see a handful of their faces and mannerisms.
Comparing the two types--synchronous and asynchronous, even if I had to start a semester online without meeting the students in person first, and without pre-made, recycled assignments, I think I would rather do synchronous. It is a lot more work because I have to prepare something every day, not just once a week. Fortunately my supervisor assigns a lot of pre-made homework assignments from our online platform for the course now, but even if I had to prepare all of the homework, too, I would still prefer the synchronous. After a couple semesters, it would just be a matter of fine tuning the homework and lesson plans, keeping up with the latest research and tweaking according to my own experiential learning about what works and what doesn't work.
However, I have to say this is only after two days, and I might easily change my mind in a few weeks. I hope the Corona Virus scare ends soon for many reasons, but I'm glad at least for the job I have and opportunities for learning right now.
All of that was asynchronous, though. Now, thanks to the Corona Virus scare, I'm doing the teaching part, not just coaching, and it's synchronous. It's still not ideal. I can't see all of their faces all the time, and some I don't see at all because not all students have put pictures up and some aren't joining the video aspect. I would love to see their faces, though. That's one of the things I love about teaching--the interactiveness about it--seeing how they're learning, seeing them be entertained, or uplifted, or even annoyed or frustrated; talking to them one-on-one as I mingle among groups or pairs of students talking. On the positive side, I can still hear all of their feelings in their voices. And I'm oh so glad I started the semester face-to-face with them so that I know them a bit and can interpret what I hear in those voices a little better. And, of course, I do see a handful of their faces and mannerisms.
Comparing the two types--synchronous and asynchronous, even if I had to start a semester online without meeting the students in person first, and without pre-made, recycled assignments, I think I would rather do synchronous. It is a lot more work because I have to prepare something every day, not just once a week. Fortunately my supervisor assigns a lot of pre-made homework assignments from our online platform for the course now, but even if I had to prepare all of the homework, too, I would still prefer the synchronous. After a couple semesters, it would just be a matter of fine tuning the homework and lesson plans, keeping up with the latest research and tweaking according to my own experiential learning about what works and what doesn't work.
However, I have to say this is only after two days, and I might easily change my mind in a few weeks. I hope the Corona Virus scare ends soon for many reasons, but I'm glad at least for the job I have and opportunities for learning right now.
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