I think this summarizes my online teaching experience extremely well.
I had prepared myself for my role as the facilitator for my online discussion. I had read all the articles, pulled the main points to review, and developed questions to encourage discussion. I had the idea in my head that for every question I asked, all 15 students would raise their hands and have great answers. Then other students would discuss what the first had answered. Boy, was I wrong.
I logged on Carmen Connect around 7:30 p.m. and was met by the instructor by 7:40. She and I got on the same page as far as how the 30 minutes would go. Soon enough, students started logging on and suddenly, the nerves set in. I did not know what to expect. I knew that I had lots of material prepared, and wanted to give students plenty of opportunities to participate.
I introduced myself to the students and began to briefly review the material. I had my notes by my side in case I got flustered and needed a reminder. I discussed my first topic and provided the students with a scenario, and asked how they would handle it. After no one raised their hand to answer, I read that students had not heard the question. When I repeated the question, one student gave an answer, but no one could hear her. This issue continued through the night. I kept pausing to make sure students could hear me when I expected responses but did not get them. Students could not get their webcams to work, could not hear me at times, and could not hear each other at times. Toward the end, we broke out into groups with a multi-part question for students to answer. I thought I could hop between rooms and guide them in the right direction. Unfortunately, I was placed in one breakout group with a couple of undergrad students and one of my classmates. I guided them in the right direction, but was unable to help all of the groups.
I picture many students (and myself) looking like this at times:
The session had positives and negatives. I think I focused more on the negatives because I was so bummed that it did not go exactly how it was planned. I think one of my weaknesses in this session was being unable to go with the flow. I felt that there were topics I had to get to so that I could ask the questions, but did not quite know how to respond when it was not going to plan. I think this is an important lesson for teaching online, because things ARE going to happen. We just have to work with them. I do think that I was well prepared for the session and provided a brief review of the material without boring the students. I focused on main points, and then gave students a chance to provide their insights based on their new knowledge.
Online teaching is a new challenge. It was my first time in the ‘role’ of the instructor, so it felt like a lot of pressure. I am not sure that online teaching is for me after this activity. I like to be in control of situations, and I think that is easier in person than online. Some things are just beyond our control, so we just have to..
