Teaching Online While on Vacation
I have not posted in a while because I have been away on holiday. It was my first trip somewhere warm, and was a bit of a reward for completing my doctorate. I am sure you can all appreciate how difficult it would have been to take a holiday when such a major piece of academic research was still underway.
However, this separation anxiety still existed in a different way while I was away. When you teach a course online, going on vacation seems a impossibility, but it does not have to be. There is always that tension, that fine line, when you are teaching online between being too present and being too absent. As an educator who always strives to inspire a collaborative and ethical learning environment, I have been blessed this term with students who seem genuinely happy to help and learn from each other as well as from me.
There have been many blogs and articles about how instructors should participate in their online courses. If you are available 24/7 you create a sense of dependency and expectation that is not necessarily educationally inspiring. If you are answering a student's query 15mins after they post online, you are basically being the equivalent of Google. What we should inspire in our students is a sense of "wayfinding;" that they can use their own critical thinking skills alongside the information provided by the instructor and their fellow classmates for truly collaborative learning.
When on holiday there are always connectivity issues. You can't be online as much as you are at home; there is a compounded sense of distance and disconnect. I was away for 7 days and I managed to check in on my course 3 times. The course did not implode, the students did not panic, the learning continued, assignments were handed in on time. It was a thing of beauty really.
I believe the key to success in an online course, especially if there are times where the instructor has to be away, is to make sure from the start of the course that the students have the confidence that they can and are capable of finding the information they require with their digital literacy skills and then use and process that information with their critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Creating confidence is an essential building block of any teaching philosophy, and within a digital environment we must make sure our students are confident not only with the course material but also with the technology, the LMS, etc.
Though it was nice to be away, it was equally nice to be back and see that my course and my students were still doing the amazing work that they have been doing. Teaching online may seem like a 24/7 process but it certainly does not have to be and should not be so all encompassing if preparation is done ahead of time. I truly enjoy teaching online, and this small time away from the course has demonstrated why edtech can and does create collaborative and ethical learning environments.
However, this separation anxiety still existed in a different way while I was away. When you teach a course online, going on vacation seems a impossibility, but it does not have to be. There is always that tension, that fine line, when you are teaching online between being too present and being too absent. As an educator who always strives to inspire a collaborative and ethical learning environment, I have been blessed this term with students who seem genuinely happy to help and learn from each other as well as from me.
There have been many blogs and articles about how instructors should participate in their online courses. If you are available 24/7 you create a sense of dependency and expectation that is not necessarily educationally inspiring. If you are answering a student's query 15mins after they post online, you are basically being the equivalent of Google. What we should inspire in our students is a sense of "wayfinding;" that they can use their own critical thinking skills alongside the information provided by the instructor and their fellow classmates for truly collaborative learning.
When on holiday there are always connectivity issues. You can't be online as much as you are at home; there is a compounded sense of distance and disconnect. I was away for 7 days and I managed to check in on my course 3 times. The course did not implode, the students did not panic, the learning continued, assignments were handed in on time. It was a thing of beauty really.
I believe the key to success in an online course, especially if there are times where the instructor has to be away, is to make sure from the start of the course that the students have the confidence that they can and are capable of finding the information they require with their digital literacy skills and then use and process that information with their critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Creating confidence is an essential building block of any teaching philosophy, and within a digital environment we must make sure our students are confident not only with the course material but also with the technology, the LMS, etc.
Though it was nice to be away, it was equally nice to be back and see that my course and my students were still doing the amazing work that they have been doing. Teaching online may seem like a 24/7 process but it certainly does not have to be and should not be so all encompassing if preparation is done ahead of time. I truly enjoy teaching online, and this small time away from the course has demonstrated why edtech can and does create collaborative and ethical learning environments.
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