Reflecting on online teaching pedagogy, it seems a little
overwhelming to think about how much pedagogy doesn't translate from
face-to-face teaching. Things that I do when teach will be lost completely,
like making jokes or checking for understanding. On the other hand, teaching
online will alleviate some of the in the moment stress of having students check
out mentally during class. I do think it is a benefit to not have a required
class time that you must be there, but at the same time, I think many people
don't make full use of their online classes because they don't have to set
aside time to work on it the way that they have to set aside time to attend
class. When they are working on classwork, it is good that they can work at
their own pace. On the other hand, the biggest stressor to me, is a permanent
public record of responses and possibly critiques to my writing (like this and
discussion posts), and I really can't see a way around that one.
Luralyn -
ReplyDeleteI have found that one great thing about giving feedback by typing is that it is sort-of permanent. So, a student can come back to it later... but... while for me I can think through clearly what I would like to say, it takes longer to craft (and of course if you make a typo or something that stinks). One time I made a typo in an "introduce yourself to the class" sort of place... the students in that class continually teased me about it... but that also made it harder to hold them to a high standard of correct grammar use, etc... grrrrr! the challenges! :)
Luralyn- Interesting reading your post after writing mine. In particular, I've been wondering about how, really, at the end of the day, good pedagogy is good pedagogy, whether you're online or not, and while a few of the details are different, the way we play the game should be the same...
ReplyDeleteLuralyn--It's probably not as easy to joke around with students on-line; after all, you can't see their eyes, their faces, their reactions. But you shouldn't think that your discussions will be somehow lifeless. Naah. I fool around a lot--maybe too much-- with comments and reactions. What's more, I don't proofread my comments all the time either. Who knows what sins I commit?
ReplyDeleteSometimes people ask me how students have changed in the forty years I spent in the classroom. I tell them that it seems to me they have shorter attention spans. I don't know if any studies show that or not, but I swear that getting them simply to stick with a short story all the way through takes something akin to a death threat.
On the other hand, I also feel that they're vastly more creative than they were years ago, when good writing was simply assumed to be academic writing. Kids write much more these days than they used to, and when they do they use voices which are authentically theirs. A major component of good writing is being able to use a voice that's real, a voice you trust, that's your own.
The stories I got from my students during my last year teaching fiction writing had to rank as good or better than any fiction class I ever taught at Dordt.
Honestly, I had a lot of fun teaching for all those years, but I have a lot of fun teaching on-line too.
I'm still a Calvinist, but I've never been a Puritan :).
One more note that just happened. My students can take the test (essay) at home, as long as their parents proctor the time. One student just sent me a note to say that her parents would be gone, but her grandma could watch her. I sent her a note that said, as a Grandpa myself, I knew that grandparents couldn't be trusted to uphold the law when it came to their grandkids. Then a smiley face.
DeleteYou can still joke around.