And so it begins...
Today is the day. I have been thinking about this for many months. This has been an idea I have been toying with for awhile and it is finally coming to fruition. I have been in the online learning field for a long time; pretty much since 1999. I was only a work study at that time, but I got my start supporting the learning academy that San Juan College was running that summer. We had a set of faculty who were learning about what it was going to mean to teach online for the first time. I think at that time a lot of us were kinda running by the seat of our pants and since that time I have learned quite a bit about what it means to teach online. Fast forward several years to 2006 - that was the first year that I taught my first fully online class. It was an introduction to biology course and it included the lab component online as well. During those first semesters I spent time "defending" the techniques, the learning the students were doing, and so on. It has now been over 10 years since that first semester and I have taught 1-2 sections every semester usually with 24+ students per section. The class has morphed over time, I have learned several strategies on how to engage my students, tactics to keep them moving through the course, and just delivering content. It isn't perfect and it never will.
But since that time I wasn't just teaching online. I have also been in the online learning industry supporting faculty who teach online. Up until the end of April of 2016 I was the Director of Academic Technology at San Juan College and I managed the team that not only administrated the learning management system, but also supported students and faculty who taught online. During that time I helped transition Learning Management Systems (twice, WebCT-ANGEL and ANGEL-Canvas), and worked to systematize online learning at San Juan College. In May of last year my career shifted and I now am the Director of Academic Technology at College of Southern Nevada and I really don't work with online faculty anymore. :( My teams support the website, the computer labs, the smart classrooms, and students using Canvas. I love my new job, but I still miss spending those hours one-on-one with an online faculty trying to figure out the best way to tweak an assignment to make it work or more strategies to engage a group of students who are just not spending enough time in the class or those monthly coffee and conversations discussing what works (or what doesn't) online and helping each other improve.
And that is why I have decided to start this blog and a podcast to go along with it. I want to help faculty become more effective online teachers. I want to help them engage their students and in turn successfully complete their courses. This post, I hope, is the first of many that will inspire and create debate, conversation, and dialogue around the topic of online teaching. My focus is on higher education faculty, but I think the principles and concepts will apply to teaching online in the K-12 environment. So here we go; let me know what you think, what topics you want me to discuss, and how I can improve this blog. I am excited to see where this ends up.
But since that time I wasn't just teaching online. I have also been in the online learning industry supporting faculty who teach online. Up until the end of April of 2016 I was the Director of Academic Technology at San Juan College and I managed the team that not only administrated the learning management system, but also supported students and faculty who taught online. During that time I helped transition Learning Management Systems (twice, WebCT-ANGEL and ANGEL-Canvas), and worked to systematize online learning at San Juan College. In May of last year my career shifted and I now am the Director of Academic Technology at College of Southern Nevada and I really don't work with online faculty anymore. :( My teams support the website, the computer labs, the smart classrooms, and students using Canvas. I love my new job, but I still miss spending those hours one-on-one with an online faculty trying to figure out the best way to tweak an assignment to make it work or more strategies to engage a group of students who are just not spending enough time in the class or those monthly coffee and conversations discussing what works (or what doesn't) online and helping each other improve.
And that is why I have decided to start this blog and a podcast to go along with it. I want to help faculty become more effective online teachers. I want to help them engage their students and in turn successfully complete their courses. This post, I hope, is the first of many that will inspire and create debate, conversation, and dialogue around the topic of online teaching. My focus is on higher education faculty, but I think the principles and concepts will apply to teaching online in the K-12 environment. So here we go; let me know what you think, what topics you want me to discuss, and how I can improve this blog. I am excited to see where this ends up.
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