You may have varying levels of experience with fully online education. Below is a faculty driven video about student engagement, which is a part of a larger series.
For those of you with experience, I hope you will share your tips and insights with your peers and me. For those of you with less experience, here are some things to know and think about:
1) Online education is not better or worse than face-to-face education. Rather, it is different. It relies, in part, more heavily on student participation through discussions and a certain level of self-driven work. This can require a certain mental shift. I have created a discussion this week to allow feelings and thoughts about online education to be engaged.
2) Online education does not require you to be online 24/7. Rather, I have created a set of expectations to help us participate and respond to discussions such that discussions are generative BUT also not causing us undue anxiety (e.g., did I post enough, should I post more, etc.)
3) Online education allows us to engage material on our own time. Since we will not meet at the same time most weeks. This allows you to join in and engage the work of the course when you have time. This is important as many of you may have additional responsibilities at home or are navigating complex life issues.
--Thanks to from Adam J. Greteman, Ph.D., Director, Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) and Assistant Professor for this language.