Online Teaching


I am presently involved in teaching my first online graduate course and have conflicted feelings about the experience. I miss the human contact aspect. For example, I can’t read body language being online.

Having a teacher available at a moment’s notice can be comforting to a student. In an online environment, I check their work sites once or twice a day each day, but in the system we are using, my students and I aren’t necessarily on at the same time. When participants need assistance we rely on the site’s email account. There may be a long interval between the question being posed and the answer given. I can only tell if learning happens if a participant posts his/her work. In a face-to-face environment, I would observe the work being produced and provide feedback immediately.

One participant told me that an online course meant more work for the student. She said that, in a face-to-face environment, students don’t have to participate in each discussion. In an online course, students must answer each discussion question. They can’t stay back and just listen. There is no place to hide in an online class.

I once read that technology has the potential to deepen or humanity (sorry – can’t remember the source). I’m still on the fence about this one. I think the participants in the course feel the same. It’s an interesting point of reflection. What do you think?