Hand-in-hand with learning about Google Classroom, I am now accepting (mostly) the reality that all my future teaching/learning will be at the very least a blend of in-person & online courses. Teaching in elementary, high school, or adult learners won’t change this fact; online is here to stay. I need to embrace it and learn how to transfer my teaching style into the virtual world.
This course felt like it was aimed more at corporate trainers and that was a great refresher for me, however, all the concepts, skills, and ideas are transferable to nearly any learner in any situation.
In a nutshell: 1- Get to know your students and scaffold what your teach upon what they already know. 2 – Make your teaching content and delivery engaging!
I know, I know… how, right? Well, I’m coming to realize there’s a great benefit to this sort of vague approach, also known as inductive learning. Information is presented incomplete and full of guiding questions (or prompts) that all the learner to reason their way to understanding the big concept, both in context of their personal experiences and from multiple perspectives. In other words, a fuller and more complete understanding that remains open to additional possibilities and inviting further inquiry… it develops life-long-learners! Yikes! It’s my teaching philosophy again kicking my imposter syndrome in the butt!
- Benefits of online education (It’s a reality)
- Incorporating technology in the classroom (Again, a reality of learners today and tomorrow)
- Setting guidelines and expectations about online courses ( Make this collective agreements and the students take ownership of them)
- Writing learning outcomes (ALWAYS START WITH CLEAR LEARNING OBJECTIVES!!! What do you want your students to do and learn?)
- Sharing and curating files and resources (See my previous and future endorsements of Google Classroom)
- Tracking student progress (Academically, we define this as formative assessments. In goal setting jargon, break the goals into achievable increments and while inviting risking to make mistakes as beneficial parts of the learning process, guide the students to learning the increments before progressing to the next one.)
- Engaging students (Make it fun for both you and the students! Make it relevant to your students)
- Fostering communication (Embrace a co-learner mindset and seek to understand, before being understood)
- Providing feedback (Individualize this… it isn’t the same as standard assessments)
- Making learning accessible to students with disabilities (See Universal Design for Learning… until then, be aware of personal experiences… ie. get to know your students!!!)
Course Description: “Technology has changed the nature of education—and the jobs of educators. Online instruction requires different methods to help students learn. This course is designed to help corporate trainers and teachers update their skill sets to teach effectively online.”
Back to the subject at hand… teaching online…
The New Renaissance Mindset 