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Who's Teaching Online?
This week I learned about the type of teacher who not only enjoys teaching online, but also what makes those teachers most successful in the online setting. I found the articles and video clips this week to be rather relative to my own experience in teaching Online PE through the FCPS Online Campus this past summer. As Claudette Philips mentioned in the 'Things I like about eLearning' video clip, teaching online offers a flexible schedule and the opportunity to work with different teachers while gaining new perspectives. In my experience this summer, I was able to travel across the country, as were my students, and we shared those experiences during out synchronous discussions. Additionally, I met several other PE teachers from all over the county who have continued to be a valuable resource even during our regular school year.
Two of the most important keys to success that Davis and Niederhauser mentioned was the need to be highly organized and able to use effective communication in various formats, (2007). I could not agree more. While I cringed at the long, 12 hour days I endured setting up my online class in the first week of the course, it was all worthwhile. Having numerous resources readily available to students to help them trouble shoot the technology, tools, and assignment expectations allowed me to provide more direct instruction to the students to meet their needs. Additionally, the organization of my files and communication logs were imperative as I needed to reach out to students/parents/administrators in order to help students who were falling behind or disappearing from the course. One additional factor that was concluded in the article by Borup, Graham, and Drysdale was that when teachers were provided with premade curriculum, they attributed that to their positive course outcome (2014). I was thankful that our curriculum was premade, and impressed by the details that had been incorporated, as it allowed me to put my attention where it was needed in the delivery and support of the learning. This Popplet expands on others interesting facts learned.
It was interesting to watch 'A Day in the Life of an Online Teacher at Edison Learning' as the structure of the day was almost identical to what I found to be successful this summer, except that I often just rolled out of bed, walked downstairs to the dining room table to login in my pj's, and started brewing a pot of coffee! I always started with logging into email, gradebook, the Bb Course and Collaborate. The first week of teaching, I didn't have a rhythm - and I expected students to turn in assignments earlier than what turned out to be the case. Online students are more prone to procrastination - as noted by Archambault & Kent (2009), which I also experienced. At first, I thought I would grade assignments during the day, only to sit all day doing nothing because they didn't turn in their work until the last 2 hours of the day. Once I adjusted to their cadence of work, all went smoothly.
It is important to remember to be flexible and enjoy the flexibility of the job in and of itself. Online learning has so many advantages for many different types of people, of all ages, and needs. It isn't for everyone, but it increase accessibility to many, and provides many new opportunities to those that pursue online learning. I just recently dove into the journey of becoming an online teacher and love it. So you may ask - You teach Online PE? How does that work? Check out the videos below. The first explains an Online PE program used in Utah, and the second video gives you a glimpse at what a day in the students life looks like while taking Online PE. I chose these videos because they are very similar to the course I taught this summer.
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