In anticipation of earning my online teaching endorsement, I have been thinking about how this will all look. Will I teach from the comfort of my own home, using technology like video conferencing? Or will I have kids in a classroom that I will monitor as they work on assignments online? I feel like that is already what I am doing by using Moodle in my Multicultural Literature class, so it seems like that would be a waste of my online teaching endorsement. I am trying to figure out how to use video conferencing if this is a true online course, as this seems to be the best way to make connections with the students so that they can see that I still care about them and want to know them. I believe the students who struggle with the traditional classroom structure seem to be prime candidates for online courses, and these are also the students who thrive with a teacher who they trust and who cares about them.
After video conferencing with Louis, I realized that online courses can still have a face-to-face component. I felt that I got to know Louis a bit from that half hour session, and because it was one-on-one video conferencing, I also felt that he got to know me a bit better. I would definitely use video conferencing for this reason alone. However, these kids would need more one-on-one attention than a half hour conference, so it would need to be frequent, perhaps even weekly.
I taught summer school last year, and video conferencing would have been awesome for that venue. If I teach summer school this year, I plan to use it with the kids who don't show up on a regular basis. This way, they can still complete work from home and talk to me about it online. I also plan to use Google Docs for the same reasons.
Hi Jamie,
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion we will be teaching an online class in the computer lab. The overall goal may be to teach all this from home but I think that's still several years down the road. I can't wait to use moodle and online classroom work to fulfill the curriculum for health. I can see the video conferencing helping with you chronic absent students or students with disabilities or life-threatening illnesses/diseases that they cannot control but still want to learn. My question is, "When can we start getting this all set-up?"
I also like Google Docs. I am a simple guys and having all that information so easy to share will be nice!
Jamie,
ReplyDeleteYou always have such insightful comments and methods for utilizing the technology in the classroom. That is one area I am finding myself stuck upon because I don't know how to apply every facet of my content (chemistry) to online learning. I feel like there will always be some topics that need to be introduced "old school" method through some sort of lecture and then the students can enhance the content through many online learning strategies I have found. I have, however, found videos of a teacher using online techniques/blackboards/video to teach mathematical approaches and content. I am not sure I have progressed that far yet. I feel pretty comfortable with moodle, but worry where all the time will come from to add the extra components I would like to