Completed ED 102 Online Teaching Techniques
The course offered much in-depth information -- quite valuable if one is new to online learning / teaching. In my case, I have been teaching online for 19 years, write several national columns on the subject, have developed online courses, and have written one book on online teaching, with another coming out next year -- and I still found the course valuable. Why? No matter how much experience and knowledge we own in online learning it is always refreshing to have the same info presented from a different perspective, to gain one or two new items not having previously known, and being reminded of varied items I had not thought about in quite some time.
I participated in ED 102, which is about retention. One of the ways to retain student is the student participation group activities like, sports group, music group etc., which creates belongingness. This helps students' retention.
Online learning is essentially using the computer to teach skills and
knowledge. Online learning includes internet-based learning, computer-based
learning, virtual classroom opportunities and digital collaboration. Content is
delivered via the internet or your local network, and can be self-paced or
instructor-led. One of the things we will learn about is our own role and the function of institutional
education in an online world. Teaching presence involves frequent
and effective interaction with the course instructor. Teaching presence as “the
design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes for the
realization of personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning
outcomes”. Online instruction is considered as the continuation of classroom teaching by other
means. But the trends and issues that interest me most in online instruction
are those that challenge the ideas about teaching and learning that we have
always taken for granted. Every time we teach an online course, we learn
something new and unsettling about ourselves. Our role is changing; so is that
of our students.
Miriam, first a bit of clarification: the course I completed was EL 108 -- have no idea why I wrote ED 102!!
As to your comment, everyone who teaches online has a first day, a first week, and a first month, i.e., we all learn, we all make errors, we all strive to be better. We are fortunate that AIU provides so much training and support for its staff -- it allows one to mature faster as an online instructor. If you have any questions don't hesitate to write me --
Thank you for your post. I feel reassured since I am fairly new as an instructor, still hold the title teaching assistant, and feel that I will never learn everything I need to know. Quite reassuring to know I never will but neither will anybody else!
