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January 01, 1970
January 01, 1970
Associate Dean Galindo, your advice is spot on for those who have the time to implement it. Under the present circumstances, however, it is rather unrealistic to expect professors who found themselves moving overnight from onsite to remote instruction to be able to act on items 1, 6, and 7 midstream, or even in advance of summer classes. You mentioned that you have been teaching online for 22 years; many of us have now been teaching remotely for less than 22 days. As a counterpoint, see http://ajjuliani.com/this-is-not-online-or-distance-learning/. Moreover, framing this advice as “mistakes to avoid” strikes the wrong tone; it tells professors who never wanted to teach remotely but are being forced to do so under quite unusual circumstances, “You’re doing it wrong.” Why not “eight ways to enhance your remote teaching” or some more positive framing?
Thank you, Christoper. As a native New Yorker I’ll be the first to admit my tendency to be blunt. Obviously the “you’re doing it wrong” approach is designed to get reader attention. As to the points themselves, if they are “spot on” for those who’ve been teaching for a while they are spot on for those just beginning to teach. I can appreciate the anxiety and stress experienced by first-time online instructors.
Thank you, Dr. Galindo! I do agree with most of what you’ve said– I’ve only taught about 8-10 courses online. I am never one to give long lectures f2f or online; I prefer short lectures and a lot of dialogue or other creative forms of engaging students (movies etc). I will allow myself 10-15 minutes for online lectures. It can depend a bit on how slow or fast one talks etc etc. I do wonder how helpful it is to tell us all we are doing wrong at this stage and in this stressful environment. Maybe it is helpful to some. I do think it should not be expected that teachers who face a steep learning curve and under the circumstances we now face, to do what is enumerated in your post. And in my view, these things cannot be taught in two weeks or even in a year. Each year I’ve taught online I’ve learned what works and does not work and how to be more effective; I’m still learning –schools, teachers, students, and subject all matter and vary. Some teachers will, of course, intuit some of those things in your post, but most will not. Organizations act as if teachers are not impacted psychologically, emotionally or even physically by this pandemic, and this should be added to the equation.