If you’re new to online teaching, you might be wondering, what is my role in the online classroom?
Don’t worry!
You will not be one of the disembodied cyborgs that Burgess describes in “Cyborg Teaching: The Transferable Benefits of Teaching Online for the Face-to-Face Classroom.”
As an online instructor, you are using different methods to accomplish many of the same things you do in your face-to-face (f2f) classroom.
Let’s look at some examples below. Most of these things can be accomplished through your online course. You don’t have to know how to do everything listed below – your instructional designer can assist you.
- Announcements and Reminders: Post announcements in text, audio, and/or video format 3 – 5 times per week. Remind students how to subscribe so they get immediate updates by email.
- Office Hours, Advising: Let students know how to contact you. Options include email, phone, instant messaging, web conferencing. Check student progress and follow up with students as needed.
- Introductions, Icebreakers: Use an Introductions discussion assignment; respond to every student. Have students complete their profiles and use the profiles in an activity.
- Syllabus & Course Overview: Use a Syllabus quiz and/or a course scavenger hunt activity.
- Lectures: The modules will include materials such as readings, commentaries, videos, and interactive lessons.
- Assessments:
- Multiple choice and/or short answer quizzes
- Discussion assignments
- Reflection assignments or papers
- Individual feedback on Assignments: Leave feedback through Grades, on the assignment, through Quizzes, and/or by using rubrics.
- Class Feedback on Assignments: Use announcements, Discussions, feedback “pre-programmed” into quiz or exam questions.
- Academic Honesty: When possible, restrict quiz and exam submission views to a period of time after the quiz or exam closes. Cycle exam questions by randomizing questions and question answers.
What other things do you do in the classroom that you are wondering how you would do online?
References
Burgess, O. (2015, March). Cyborg Teaching: The Transferable Benefits of Teaching Online for the Face-to-Face Classroom. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 11(1), 112-121. Retrieved March 2015
Harris, J., & Lange, S. (2015, March). Success Assured: How to Apply Classroom Management Skills to the Online Environment. Online Classroom, 15(3). Retrieved March 2015, from http://www.magnapubs.com/newsletter/online-classroom/133/How-to-Apply-Classroom-Management-Skills-to-the-Online-Environment-13433-1.html
Lin, H., Dyer, K., & Guo, Y. (2012). Exploring Online Teaching: A Three-Year Composite Journal of Concerns and Strategies from Online Instructors. XII(3). Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall153/lin_dyer_guo153.html