Online Teaching:
Sentiments & Feelings
As one develops more knowledge about teaching online,
perhaps one’s sentiments and feelings toward this way of learning process
changes. As time goes by, one develops more skills and tactics to deal with
VLEs and online teaching platforms. Let me reflect on how I feel about this now
that I am more into the blended learning trend of education at my university.
At
this point of my hybrid, blended, and online learning training, how do I feel
about becoming an outline instructor? I
wouldn’t say that I have second thoughts about the whole experience, but I must
say that, by trying out little tips one is provided along the training, I wish I
had the chance to transform one of my courses at Universidad Latina into a real
100% online course to see how students react and learn and how I would react
when issues arise. I know that time will come, and with the experience I get to
accumulate, I will be able to deal with it quite objectively, professionally,
and promptly.
Am I excited
or do I feel overwhelmed by shifting my way of teaching? I have to say that I do not feel overwhelmed
or anxious for a change in my teaching; little by little –in the last three
years- I have become aware of the need to keep current with the trends in
education and the professional need to be prepared for the change. At this very
point of my training, I feel much more engaged in online learning than I was
some months ago. There is some sort of excitement in my teaching atmosphere for
fully or partially moving into a virtual learning environment in which I can
create a learning community with my students, a sort of community of practice
with them as well, and a path for my professional development within ELT.
How
has the answer to the above questions chanced since the beginning or my pursuit
of this Hybrid, Blended, and Online Learning Certificate? I must admit that the answer remains the
same from the very start; as a teaching professional in the field of language learning
and teaching, I want to go beyond the classroom with my social presence and
create an online teaching and cognitive presence among my students. I tried it before,
with no former training, to engage my students in blended learning language
activities to reinforce and consolidate their learning in my classes at the
university. I feel now better prepared and with a clearer understanding of what
it is expected from me and from my students.
What
remaining questions about teaching online do I still have? My sole concern at this point is if the
university will allow me to modify a F2F course to –first- transform it into a
hybrid one to prepare students for the transition to a VLE and –second- create
content for a fully online course in one of the content classes the English
Teaching major has. How long will the wait last? I can’t really tell, but I
would be more than interested in giving the try once the certificate is finished
and courses on online design are also taken.
E To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue,
it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:
1
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Conducting effective online discussions
|
2
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Why is online learning important?
|
3
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Managing your time when teaching online
|
4
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Integrating online resources into your
teaching
|
5
|
Using a learning management system
|
Professor
Jonathan
Acuña-Solano
ELT
Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica
Freelance ELT Consultant four OUP in
Central America
For
further comments or suggestions, reach me at:
@jonacuso –
Twitter
Other blogs and sites I often write for my students at
the university are:
Get new ELT material and ideas by
visiting my curated topics on http://paper.li/ and http://scoop.it/
Published on September 23, 2013
|
Learning to
Teach Online Episodes (01/09/2009)
University
of New South Wales from http://online.cofa.unsw.edu.au/learning-to-teach-online/ltto-episodes
|
Get a copy of [Online Teaching Sentiments and Feelings by Jonathan Acuña[ right here.
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