•    How have your past experiences with online/blended learning impacted your goals for your future students?

The first online course I participated in was a graduate level, adolescent literature course. Because this was my first course, it had a big impact on my expectations for online learning. The course was offered during the summer; I thought it would be nice not to have the commitment of attending a traditional classroom. Additionally, the work of an adolescent literature course would most likely be reading and responding to young adult literature. Those activities lent themselves well to online learning.

While I enjoyed the class, the professor was not the online the presence I had hoped for, or expected. We were given a syllabus, a calendar, and then let alone to figure out the details. We responded to posted questions and at the end of the assignment the professor posted a grade.

That was pretty much the course, read, respond, receive a grade. In the professor’s defense, it should be noted that this class was a very early online learning adventure. At the time, I did not know anyone who had ever taken an online course. However, because of that class, one teaching goal I have is to provide an online presence.


•    How do you hope to engage your students effectively in online learning?

Engaging students effectively can happen when students feel welcomed, guided, and supported. One common concern expressed by online students is that they feel alone when taking a course. Therefore, these three factors; welcoming, guiding and supporting are critical to the online learning experience.

One way students can feel welcomed in an online course is by providing personal contact. Engaging students online should start with a telephone call.  A call will reassure students that the instructor is interested in their learning, available, and actively engaged.  Another way to engage students is through e-mails and posts. The language we use in the e-mails and posts is very important. It should be encouraging and positive.

A well-developed course content will help to guide student learning.  Assignments should be challenging with clear expectations. Rubrics should be well thought out. Learning should be made meaningful to the student. Most students want to do well in a class and will follow clearly established guidelines and expectations.

The teacher should connect what is known about the student with course content whenever possible this would help the student to feel supported. The students will also feel supported by reading peer posts. Reading each other’s work allows students to develop a depth and breadth of understanding that might not be possible without the support of fellow learners.



•    What has been (or do you anticipate being) the most challenging aspect of online/blended teaching for you? What solutions have you considered to this challenge?

The only experience I have with online teaching is through PLS. The one area of concern has been when a student completes all the work at one time. Sometimes, they complete all the work on the same day they registered! Usually, the work is well done, the student is often an excellent, confident student. However, occasionally the work is subpar. When that happens, it is difficult to tell the student exactly where or what the problem is because often one problem leads to another problem area.

One way to handle the quick finisher is by grading one assignment per day. It is important to give specific, thoughtful feedback on each assignment before grading the next assignment. By grading one assignment per day, I can give specific feedback for each assignment. This approach gives the student an opportunity to revise their work if they want to before the final grade. The pacing of my grading can help to model an appropriate work completion pace.