Becoming an Online Instructor

Self-reflection

It’s kind of difficult not to try to write in first person, but this “self-reflection” is in first person. I needed to answer the questions below to organize my thoughts and try to visualize what my next step in my professional practicum and development will be.

After considering the effect of one’s presence in online courses and teaching, one needs to reflect on how to adapt F2F instruction activities to an online scenario. But going beyond this simple reflection activity I am not part of, how can one answer the following questions to fully become an online instructor?

Ø How comfortable are you with transitioning to become an online instructor?

Being honest, as an ELT instructor I feel quite comfortable when thinking that I can become an online instructor in language learning. I just don’t feel comfortable, but also excited and willing to take the risk. Excitement is another kind of feeling that is going through my self. I feel excited about thinking that I can be dealing with a new way of learning than simply being in a classroom with pupils. Trying to connect to students via online learning scenarios is something I have been visualizing for a long time. Education is evolving, and we are heading for hybrid and blended learning environments. I just want to feel what this is all about to help students learn and develop themselves satisfactorily in this new trend in education.

Excitement –indeed- is part of the cornerstone of what is driving my professional life at this point. However, my willingness to try a different route as a language professional is part of my learning and professional goals. Now I feel ready to take the next step in my professional development by experiencing and finding new ways to assist students in their building of their language knowledge via a different but effective way of learning, -online-. Scholars have been discussing the pros and cons of online education for a while, and they do believe it is the “new” way of learning.

Ø Do you feel confident transitioning to become an online instructor?

I do feel confident transitioning to find myself turned into an online instructor. The way in which my last five years of training has been superb! I began being a neophyte in using technology for education and now I am at the doors of experiencing a new world of teaching. My former experience has also helped me to visualize my teaching in the years to come: Using all possible digital means to help learners become confident and autonomous in their own learning.

Working on hybrid learning empirically for a couple of years made me mature professionally and had me read extensively on better ways of using technology in education. Now, with the proper and unique guidance provided by Laureate Education on its Faculty Platform, and the new experiences for the acquisition of new knowledge, I feel quite confident in becoming an online instructor. Although there are “new things” to learn, the first step into changing learning scenarios is one’s readiness and predisposition.

Ø How do you feel you have the necessary skills to be an online instructor?

Instead of inherent skills for an online teacher, I prefer to think of necessary competencies to teach in hybrid, blended learning, or online contexts. A skill seems to be something innate and that I already have, but a competency is something that needs to be learned, developed, nourished, and finally polished. As an amateur online instructor I am certain that I am working on my social, teaching, and cognitive presence in the ELT blended learning we are currently running at the university. Learning by doing is indeed a great way of living what one is learning.

As a consequence of this “learning-by-doing” mode, the acquisition of new competencies –unique for online teaching- is a goal in itself and motivation to complete one’s cycle in transitioning to become an online instructor. Once these new online teaching competencies are polished, one is ready to step into the online teaching scenario and perform confidently.

Ø Are there any skills or concepts related to instructing online that you would like to learn?

A competency that I am looking forward to learning is how can a F2F course syllabus is moved or transformed into an online syllabus. I am excited about the fact that one can become an online course developer on learning platforms such as Moodle, Blackboard, and the like. Perhaps, even a simple learning platform like Google Sites can be turned into an effective LMS with great doses of social, teaching, and cognitive presence for both instructors and students.

To sum up, although I am just answering these questions out of my experience, the sense of confidence needed to become an online instructor is a key element to take the risk of experiencing online education. Our world is moving us towards hybrid, blended learning, and online learning and teaching scenarios. We instructors have to be prepared for the change and to develop ourselves professionally in this new trend in education.

E To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:

1	Teaching comfort in online scenarios
2	What it takes to become an online instructor
3	Competencies in online teaching
4	The literature for online hybrid / blended education
5	Transforming the F2F syllabi into online learning