This Whole Online Teaching Thing
My first writing assignment for my online class about online teaching is requiring me to talk about how I feel about online teaching. This summer is my first time teaching online, but I’ve taken a few online classes before and, frankly:
My online summer class started today. Dammit
— Giovanni Battistoni⚾ (@giovanni_batt3) June 1, 2015
I feel you, bro. My main issue with the classes I’ve taken, however, has been that they’re usually a bunch of bullshit. That online continuing ed class I took to maintain a certification that shall remain nameless? It replaced 8 hours of in-person training with less than 45 minutes worth of trivial crap I mostly already knew. *yawn* And the delivery? Oh, sure, I’d love to read several pages of text and then do a poorly-written quiz. Youbetcha.
Ya mom I'm doing my online class pic.twitter.com/mFgaHq8tzh
— Tanner Ingle (@TannedMann) May 28, 2015
As for my students, I worry a lot about procrastination. Some of them are on the ball, but the process of refining a research question, which usually takes 5 minutes in person, is taking forever with some of them. This is partly because they don’t always communicate well or in detail via e-mail, but also, they’re busy. Working, out of the country with family and friends they haven’t seen in months, whatever. It’s so, so easy to just avoid that particular website–and then, before you know it:
I have a week to do half of my online class 🙁
— nathan christensen (@NateChrist18) May 28, 2015
Students also have other issues, like messing up or being confused. And while I’m online a lot, I do sleep from time to time. Sometimes I even leave the house. And then stuff happens.
Staring at my post in my online class (that can't be edited once submitted) and wondering why God let this happen: pic.twitter.com/Kmr28oc3VU
— laura (@thelbaum) May 27, 2015
I also know that, while people have happy, rosy dreams about MOOCs, the reality is that they typically educate the educated–and, worse, they have insanely high failure rates. Have you ever bailed out on a MOOC you signed up for? I have.
"Identifying the Dead MOOC – New Online Course Starting in September" https://t.co/I9gzVKDben
— Kristina Killgrove (@DrKillgrove) June 2, 2015
And now, thanks to Twitter, I have something new to worry about: cheating. Did one of my students change writing styles between assignments, or did I imagine it? Why did she switch fonts? Is there even any way for me to tell if they’re paying someone else to do the work?
just did tests for about half of the kids in my online class
— kins (@kinsleymoore_) June 1, 2015
But, on a more positive note, I do think there’s a ton of potential in online classes. For some people in some situations, they’re a great (and perhaps the only) choice. And they certainly can be designed and executed well. Best of all, they offer a tremendous opportunity for faculty:
This redifines EPIC –> How to launch an online course and make $220,750 in 10 days http://t.co/vyiBQWuKNF via @harris_bryan
— Joseph Michael (@ScrivenerCoach) May 31, 2015
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go design an online course to MAKE ME MONEY. (OK, no, I really just need to grade a ton of papers.)