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Online teaching basics

Online Teaching Requires New Mindset

About 125 years ago, a beautiful, nearly complete Viking ship was discovered in a burial mound in southern Norway. The Gokstad ship was over 1100 years old. With it, a smaller boat was found. Remarkably, the small boat was very similar to ones still being built in Norway today. How was this possible?

The skill of boat-building had been passed on from generation to next in a very powerful way: The grandfather built a boat with his grandson with each working on their own half. This hands-on training was the way things were done. It is only over the last few hundred years that it became common to put students into large lecture halls to teach them things. This change wasn’t necessarily better, but it was cheaper and faster.

Online education represents a major paradigm shift, in some ways back to the way things were before. In this new format, the focus switches to a more collaborative learning environment where the power balance moves from the professor to the students. Anyone pondering becoming an online educator must to adapt to thrive. Click here to read the full-length PDF version of this article by JIU professor and author Mona Engvig, PhD.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TEACHING ONLINE

  • Online education adjusts the power balance from the professor to the students.
  • >Online education adds to the educator’s skill set rather than changing it.
  • Online students, as customers, strongly impact the success of courses and programs.
  • Too many postings by the professor hamper student interaction.
  • People not familiar with online education often assume that it is of less value.
  • Focus on a well-structured online classroom, clear expectations, peer learning and rapid feedback, and you will do well.