Instructors as learners

Instructors who are new to online teaching face a steep learning curve as they grapple with the challenges of presenting material effectively using technology, engaging with students, guiding students through online work, and evaluating the outcomes. Penn State University has a helpful online Self-Assessment Tool for Online Teaching Preparedness. Many institutions offer help from instructional designers and other educational professionals in preparing faculty to teach online. As online learning grows, the number of faculty able to teach this way will also need to grow. Many of us over a certain age have no experience with this form of learning, yet we may be faced with having to incorporate online elements into existing courses or even teach fully online.

One of the most helpful things a new online instructor can do is experience what it's like to be an online learner.  Designing such a course would obviously depend on the nature of online learning the instructor is going to do. At my institution we offer several blended courses that deliver about 50% of the course online and the remainder in the classroom, plus the odd fully online course. We use Moodle as our LMS, but instructors are free to go outside Moodle to deliver course content or communicate with students as they see fit.

What online learning experiences would best prepare a new online instructor for teaching? While there is a plethora of emerging technologies that online instructors can employ in their courses, there is a smaller set of experiences that most courses with an online component will require of students:

• engaging with course content online in written, audio, video or other formats
• communicating and engaging in discussion with other students and the instructor
• collaborating with other students
• completing online quizzes
• uploading assignments
• troubleshooting technological problems
• managing time independently
• having regular access to the internet

I would suggest offering a Moodle course incorporating these components to new online instructors as a professional development activity - perhaps for a few hours a week over 4 weeks preferably with a cohort of at least 4 or 5 participants and an experienced facilitator. One of the side benefits to this of course, would be the instant peer group and online community for the new instructors.

Last year I was a participant in an Instructional Skills Workshop Online offered through Royal Roads University. It offered some of these experiences and also provided participants an opportunity to practice online facilitation skills as they guided their colleagues through discussion activities. The course reinforced for me the importance of well-timed, careful communication from the facilitator - not enough and you feel adrift, not timely or relevant and you feel unheard. I also really got the challenges of asynchronous discussion - you do end up waiting for people to post and potentially feeling like your time is being wasted. And the absence of verbal cues and body language was a good reminder to try to build in some substitutes in my communication with students.

What are the other online experiences that would help instructors?