Wading into On-Line Teaching

Trying to convert a successful face-to-face class into a successful on-line class by paying attention to the research and embracing mistakes

To take notes with others, go to: “Wading into On-line Teaching” tlt.gs/MccrickerdNotesOct21And see TLT Group's FridayLive! Homebase Webpage tlt.gs/teachonlinefrlv1111

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Trying on-line class because…

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From Babe

Everything evolves…..

From Avatar

Trying on-line class because…

Image: Julio Martinez

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….it’s still in its infancy

Image: Kristoferb at en.wikipediaImage: Dan Taylor

Trying on-line class because…

If I can teach an on-line class well, it will significantly enhance my face-to-face teaching

Image:JISC infoNet

Learning has come a long way

Image: NYC Wanderer (Kevin Eng)

Class in Question

• Introduction to Ethical TheoryoBasics of traditional ethical theory

Goals:• Improved critical thinking,

reading, writing,•Asking good questions•Enhanced creativity &

comfort with uncertainty

Challenges teaching face-to-face classes

#1 Emotional investment

Thinking: not evolutionarily advantageous (thus, to be avoided)

Puzzle-solving: evolutionarily advantageous (& fun)

Need to find engaging problems for students instead of trying to convince them to think

Poll 1 Students' Priorities

What priorities do you think your students have in your class?

What solvable, relevant problems do your students face in their lives?

•Not looking/feeling stupid•Getting grades they want•Managing workload (academic & jobs)•Managing stress•Family•Securing their future•Getting enough sleep•Having a social life

Need to find engaging problems for our students instead of trying to convince them to think

Challenges teaching face-to-face classes

2. Students will resist change (we all do)•For good evolutionary reasons•Change brings risk

Change = Danger

Challenges teaching face-to-face classes

(3) Students will have a difficult time learning new skills of reading difficult material, writing & thinking about new things.

Poll 2 First Teaching

Which of these most accurately describes your first teaching experience?

 

Poll 3 Teacher Training

Which of these most accurately describes the training you got prior to teaching your first time?

 

Poll 4 Teacher Comfort

How long did it take for you to feel comfortable as a teacher?

Challenges teaching face-to-face classes

(4) Students may very well view challenges or mistakes as evidence that they are incapable of learning

Poll 6 Novice Participation

How likely are you to participate in activities (outside of the classroom) when you are a rank novice in the activity?

Challenges teaching face-to-face classes

(5) Making sure students learn what I want them to learn & then transfer that learning outside of the classroom“By the third grade, when students are asked to complete the sentence, Learning is…’, their most common answer is boring” — Theo Dawson, (http://theodawson.net)

What do my students learn in classes?

…Understand where the students are coming from

…Take seriously their vulnerability when learning new things

…Understand I am asking students to do difficult and scary things

…Understand that their missteps and emotional responses are reasonable response to the situation they find themselves in

The learning experience will be a better one if I…

Poll 6 Admit Ignorance, Fear

How likely are you to admit to your class ignorance about the topic at hand, concern about the progress of the course or trepidation about a new assignment/technique?

Strategies for addressing these challenges in face-to-face classes

- Spend time prior to class chatting with students

- Be my goofy self

- Move around the class a good deal

- Put students into groups

- Interact one-on-one with students (both in class & in their on-line journals)

Strategies for addressing these challenges in face-to-face classes

- “Read” students’ body language and faces

- Joke around with students

- Learn about students’ lives outside of class through conversation

Challenges of on-line courses

(Face-to-face challenges)

And then the real challenges

•Same challenges students face learning new skills since I’m venturing into new territoryI will- Be vulnerable- Make mistakes - Provide evidence that I don’t really know how to teach or what I’m doing

And then the real challenges

Learning new skillsI will- Not be entirely successful the first (second or third) time

- Improve, then drop in ability before I improve again

- Need time to improve

- Be inclined to fall back on old strategies that are unlikely to work in this environment — and so I’ll panic

Deepest Fears

- To the extent that I’m a good teacher it’s because I am able to connect with my students

- Students will be very able to ‘tune out’ the on-line class in a way that is much more difficult in a f-f class

Deepest Fears

- It will become clear that I am not a good teacher

- My colleagues and students will think less of me

Extermission

• Want to make comments and share thoughts about on-line teaching & fears associated with teaching? http://tlt.gs/McCrickerdNotesOct21

• Xtranormal video about elearning: [2.5 mins] http://youtu.be/XvkS59KgZcM

• Want to know a little bit about me? http://Cultivatingphronesis.blogspot.com

• A video about seeing the world from others’ perspective [1 min] http://youtu.be/zAjgLeDCJlU

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Personal strategies for dealing with most pressing issues

•Lower expectations of success (mine and my colleagues)

•Constantly remind myself that mistakes are “opportunities”•“mistakes are our friends”•“what can I learn about teaching and learning from this experience?”

Personal strategies for dealing with most pressing issues

•Find ways to connect in on-line environment

•Make it difficult for students to ‘tune out’ or tune in ‘just enough’ but not so much as to learn

Poll 7 Teaching Practice

With enough practice, just about anyone can become a good teacher...

Possible institutional strategies

•Require mistakes of instructors

•On-going substantial emotional support

•Give instructors opportunities to try and fail at low cost ventures (intramural softball, music lessons, cooking classes, etc)

•Workshops about how to help students learn to risk stumbles in order to ultimately progress

•Atmosphere of trust

Google.docs!

Annotated Readings

Synchronized reading?

One Day….

…after Class

We do sit for hours in front of machines

What ‘easter eggs’ can we provide for students?

Why do students spend hours on Facebook? What are they doing?

How can we recruit this interest to aid in on-line (and off-line) classes?

What opportunities does on-line environment provide?

— Massive amounts of stuff (academic, popular, etc.)

— Opportunities to work together in a very different way

— Distractions (how to harness this for good instead of evil?)

Next Steps?

Based on what we have learned in this session and on your own experience...

• What are some small useful next steps in the right direction? 

• Steps that you and your colleagues might take soon? 

Specific References, Specific Steps, Specific Requests

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.  

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977. 

"While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility." -- Lee DeForest, inventor.  

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" -- H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

 

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.   

"With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market." -- Business Week, August 2, 1968.

 "There will never be a bigger plane built." -- A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people.  

“No one can learn from on-line classes”

“On-line classes are always going to be worse than face-to-face classes”

“No good teacher would want to teach on-line”

Thank you!!

Jennifer McCrickerdPhilosophy Department

Drake UniversityDes Moines, IA

jennifer.mccrickerd@drake.eduhttp://cultivatingphronesis.blogspot.com

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3:00 pm Afterthoughts Session [15-20 mins]

•Continue informal discussions with presenter/facilitators

•Encourage participants to try their microphones(w/ guidance and maximum patience, forgiveness - especially if  first time!)

Happy Week(end)!???

Final Adjournment 3:30PM EDT at the latest

IMAGES Attribution

IMAGEPhoto of person whispering into giant upholstered ear on head, "maybe it will help.. whisper@ gemeentehuis den haag" by Hans van

Rijnberk, June 21, 2008, http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3254/2598234846_4dba75c81e.jpg Some rights reserved by Hans_van_Rijnberk

IMAGEPhoto of "Yamato Bon Odori dancers perform during the Bon Odori Festival at Naval Air Facility Atsugi Japan," U. S. Navy photo by

Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Vivian Blakely Aug. 20, 2011http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/US_Navy_110820-N-TO330-

895_The_Yamato_Bon_Odori_dancers_perform_during_the_Bon_Odori_Festival_at_Naval_Air_Facility_Atsugi.jpg/500px-US_Navy_110820-N-TO330-895_The_Yamato_Bon_Odori_dancers_perform_during_the_Bon_Odori_Festival_at_Naval_Air_Facility_Atsugi.jpg

File:US Navy 110820-N-TO330-895 The Yamato Bon Odori dancers perform during the Bon Odori Festival at Naval Air Facility Atsugi.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

: This file is a work of a sailor or employee of the U.S. Navy, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work

 of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

IMAGES Attribution 2

IMAGEPhoto of "Footprints in sand. Marinha Grande, Portugal." by Júlio Reis (User:Tintazul) 1 November 2003http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Footprints_in_sand.jpg/500px-Footprints_in_sand.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Footprints_in_sand.jpgCC-BY-SA-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5) via Wikimedia Commons

IMAGEPhoto of painting of "dog Nipper listening to the horn of an early phonograph during the winter of 1898. Victor Talking Machine

Company began using the symbol in 1900, and Nipper joined the RCA family in 1929." artist Francis Barraud (1856-1924) photo originally uploaded 2006-12-18http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/His_Master%27s_Voice.jpg/500px-His_Master%27s_Voice.jpg//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/His_Master%27s_Voice.jpgBy NewYork1956 at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons"This is a faithful photographic reproduction of an original two-dimensional work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired."