I generally poll my online Ethics students each semester asking them, "if this course were not offered online, would you have taken in in a traditional classroom?"
About half of my students respond that they would not be able to take
the course if it were not online due to scheduling issues and the
like. Students like the flexibility and relative asynchronicity of the
online classroom.
And, often, I like this flexibility too. I like getting up early in the morning and working on my online classes before coming to the office. And, I like being able to log in to my classes while at a conference or at other times when I have to get a substitute for my traditional courses.
But, there is a dark side here too. In the traditional classroom, students and instructor implicitly understand the boundaries of the course. For the most part, the teaching happens during the 3-hours per week that the class meets. For the most part, students expect their questions to be answered during class, right before or after class, or during set office hours. Some e-mail or phone communication might take place between classes, but there are limited expectations here.
As we all know, there are no clear boundaries in the online classroom. Instructors create boundaries for students ~ setting assignment due dates, outlining expectations for discussions or group work and so forth. As an example, I expect my online Ethics students to be active participants in the online discussions at least 3 different days per week for a minimum of about 3-hours per week.
It is more difficult, I think, to set boundaries for ourselves as instructors. How often should I log into my course? How many discussion posts should I read? How many discussion posts should I make? We know that whenever we are not logged into our courses, students probably are ~ new discussion posts and e-mails are accumulating 24/7!
I want to feel competent and to gain a sense of personal fulfillment from teaching my online classes. I want to earn my students' respect and for them to have a good experience in my class. But, I must admit that these goals are much more difficult to achieve in my online classes than is the case with my traditional courses.
I am interested in exploring how we are setting boundaries for ourselves as online instructors. I want to talk about both the big picture but also the practical details of our practices. I want to examine proposed "best practices" and the efficiencies that you have found that help make online teaching fulfilling and manageable.
I'll start by outlining the boundaries I have set for myself. First, I log into my online courses at least 5-days per week immediately checking e-mail and then discussions. I answer all e-mail right away, even if only to say, "I will investigate and get back to you," I spend at least 20-30 minutes reading new discussion posts and selectively responding. If I have time, I will often check into my classes multiple times per day, often for only 5 minutes or so. Again, I will check e-mail and discussions. I find that I am most fulfilled as an instructor when I am actively engaged with my students. On the contrary, I feel most alienated as an instructor when I feel like an outsider in my own course ~ when I have 100 unread discussions and I realize I have not been involved as a participant and facilitator. I think my students, generally, understand my boundaries and respect them. When I take weekends off, students understand not to expect an e-mail reply until Monday morning.
I would love to hear about the boundaries you've set for yourself and how you have communicated these boundaries to your students. What do you do to feel competent as an online instructor? What give you a sense of personal and professional fulfillment? And, what efficiencies have you discovered that might help the rest of us?
In Good Spirit,
Eric
And, often, I like this flexibility too. I like getting up early in the morning and working on my online classes before coming to the office. And, I like being able to log in to my classes while at a conference or at other times when I have to get a substitute for my traditional courses.
But, there is a dark side here too. In the traditional classroom, students and instructor implicitly understand the boundaries of the course. For the most part, the teaching happens during the 3-hours per week that the class meets. For the most part, students expect their questions to be answered during class, right before or after class, or during set office hours. Some e-mail or phone communication might take place between classes, but there are limited expectations here.
As we all know, there are no clear boundaries in the online classroom. Instructors create boundaries for students ~ setting assignment due dates, outlining expectations for discussions or group work and so forth. As an example, I expect my online Ethics students to be active participants in the online discussions at least 3 different days per week for a minimum of about 3-hours per week.
It is more difficult, I think, to set boundaries for ourselves as instructors. How often should I log into my course? How many discussion posts should I read? How many discussion posts should I make? We know that whenever we are not logged into our courses, students probably are ~ new discussion posts and e-mails are accumulating 24/7!
I want to feel competent and to gain a sense of personal fulfillment from teaching my online classes. I want to earn my students' respect and for them to have a good experience in my class. But, I must admit that these goals are much more difficult to achieve in my online classes than is the case with my traditional courses.
I am interested in exploring how we are setting boundaries for ourselves as online instructors. I want to talk about both the big picture but also the practical details of our practices. I want to examine proposed "best practices" and the efficiencies that you have found that help make online teaching fulfilling and manageable.
I'll start by outlining the boundaries I have set for myself. First, I log into my online courses at least 5-days per week immediately checking e-mail and then discussions. I answer all e-mail right away, even if only to say, "I will investigate and get back to you," I spend at least 20-30 minutes reading new discussion posts and selectively responding. If I have time, I will often check into my classes multiple times per day, often for only 5 minutes or so. Again, I will check e-mail and discussions. I find that I am most fulfilled as an instructor when I am actively engaged with my students. On the contrary, I feel most alienated as an instructor when I feel like an outsider in my own course ~ when I have 100 unread discussions and I realize I have not been involved as a participant and facilitator. I think my students, generally, understand my boundaries and respect them. When I take weekends off, students understand not to expect an e-mail reply until Monday morning.
I would love to hear about the boundaries you've set for yourself and how you have communicated these boundaries to your students. What do you do to feel competent as an online instructor? What give you a sense of personal and professional fulfillment? And, what efficiencies have you discovered that might help the rest of us?
In Good Spirit,
Eric
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