Many of us are confronting working and/or teaching online in a hurry. Before I became an educational administrator at Vassar, I was a teacher. I earned my master’s degree online from UMUC. It was a great fit for my life (working full-time and raising small children.) My classmates and I had several years to reflect upon the implications of studying and teaching online. Conversely, many of our faculty will be jumping into teaching online next week!
For those faculty, I recommend reading reviewing this article and its associated resources: https://chroniclevitae.com/news/2315-going-online-in-a-hurry-what-to-do-and-where-to-start
What’s in there?
- Some great general advice – big picture thinking to help you assess what tools and techniques are the best match for your teaching style and style of class.
- A link to great resource put together by the Stanford academic technology experts, with great explanations that help one understand online learning lingo.
- A guide to “just in time teaching.”
The article was also featured at https://www.chronicle.com/article/Going-Online-in-a-Hurry-What/248207
I would encourage all faculty to think deeply about the implications for students and faculty and choose strategies with which they are comfortable. Don’t feel pressured to teach online a certain way. All of us as a community are grappling with the unexpected and the unplanned, so our expectations and our pedagogy will need to adjust accordingly.
