Week 3 of Cedo 550

For the second half of this class, I will be acting as a Facilitator/Teacher. We were asked what challenges we see we will have as an online teacher.   I have not been an online teacher to this point.  However, I think a huge challenge will be to read all of the postings and assignments the students submit.  As I have been working as an online student, I have submitted a lot of ideas in each of my classes.  I can only imagine what it is like for the instructor to go through all of the comments.  I would want to designate a large amount of time in order to give quality feedback to my students.  

During class we were discussing facilitating asynchronous and synchronous discussions.  When posting an asynchronous discussion, I want to make sure that the questions that I post are clear and concise and my students will understand what is exactly expected of them to share.  As for the synchronous discussions I will be facilitating in the future, I think that the questions I ask as well as my ability to quickly react to anything that is brought up will be a challenge when I first do this.  As with anything, I belive I will get better at it as I do it more.  However, the first time doing this will probably be harder than I anticipate. We were given the option of what topic we would like to teach in our synchronous discussion.  I picked "The qualities of a successful online student" because it fits very well into what my class and I have been doing the past year.  I think it is a topic that will generate a lot of good discussion and opinions. I am looking forward to holding my first online teaching experience.  I am nervous, but I think this will be a great opportunity to practice and see if teaching online is something I would like to do in the future.

Week 2 of Cedo 550

This week, I got the opportunity to see what it feels like to be the facilitator and reporter of an online class.  It was intense yet enjoyable to take the role as the teacher in the online class setting.  I learned that you have to be on your feet and know how to direct the class and keep them interested.  I also discovered the importance of asking open ended questions that can get a dialague going. 

As a class, we also looked into some of the facilitation skills that are necessary to carry out a successful class.  I will make sure that I include as many students as possible in a web conference.  It is important to get various viewpoints shared and it helps the class open up when you have many opinions to work off of. 

Another important point to remember is the vvalue of a proper initial contact.  When starting an online class, I will always make an email invitation that is clear, precise, and provides a warm welcome to the class. 

Overall, this week seemed to be of real value to me.  I'm not sure if I will every teach an online class, but the tools provided the past week have helped me feel I could do it if it is something I do end up doing during my career. 

Week 1 of CeDO 550

This week I started a new course called Online Faciliation.  During this course I will be learning about instruction classes online.  I am excited about this opportunity because it will give me yet more tools that I can use after I am done with this program.  The first activity we did this week was too look at the positives and negatives of online education through the eyes of parents, teachers and students.  There is a lot to take into consideration for each of these groups of people.  Cost and quality of instruction are very important to parents.  Students are looking for flexibility in their schedules, but also looking for classes that are interesting and interactive.  Teachers tend to spend a lot of their day working as an online instructor, but they can do it with a flexibility that they do not have when teaching in a typical brick and mortar building.

We also looked at online tools that can be used with our students.  There really are a countless amount of activities available for use, but I found that you need to study them closely and see if they fit well with what you are trying to do in your class.  It does take time to figure out what activities should be used and when you will use them.

Overall, I enjoyed this first week of class and felt I gained some useful tools that I could use in my current classes I teach as well as some tools that may benefit me in the future.