Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS ©2006 Board of Trustees UIC

The Evolution of Good Online Teaching Practices

Lessons Learned in the Virtual Graduate Classroom

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

History

HI certificate courses begin to go online in 1997; fully online in 2000

MS in HI program (online and F2F) in 2000

MS in HI fully online 2007????

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

Lessons Learned as a Student

• I’m sure I’m not learning as much as F2F.• I’m a people person—where are the

people?• Why aren’t the teachers teaching?• How can I get the most out of this course in

the least amount of time?• This is taking a lot of time.• Good thing I can write well.• I’m sure I could teach this better…

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

In 2002…

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

What was discovered

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

Online teaching is not just a PowerPoint presentation

• Students need to be kept interested.• You need to choose technology and

teaching techniques that reflect your thoughts/course content.

• You “lose sight” of your students.• Students will find ways to buck your

system.• Online means more time.

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

Minute papers are insightful

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

Facilitation of an asynchronous discussion forum feels like a 24/7 job

• Managing 300 responses per unit is time consuming.

• Students like to be acknowledged.

• How much participation is “enough”?

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

Facilitation requires skill

• How do you elicit participation?

• How do you handle lurkers?

• What if they don’t ask questions?

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

You cannot go it alone

• You need to import expert co-facilitators for discussion unless your TA/GA is a content expert.

• As the student numbers increase, you may need more instructors.

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

Guest facilitators can be lost online• You need to prepare them for online

teaching.

• Sometimes you need to nudge them into action.

• They will also have technology problems.

• There may be more of a tendency not to “show.”

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

Technical courses are different from discussion courses

vs

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

Online tests are challenging

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

Technology is not perfect

• If you could not teach before, technology will not fix that.

• Technology must fit the needs of each course/each unit.

• Technology fails at the most

inopportune times.

• “What are you going to do

about it?”

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

From the student side

• What happened to their questions?

• They are taking too many courses at once with a full time job and a family.

• They do not like one or two questions for 20 people.

• Dysfunctional teams.

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

From the student side

• They cannot “read” the instructor.

• They are looking for expert commentary.

• They want to be acknowledged.

• “You said, ‘Any time, any place learning.’”

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

What we are doing

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

Striving for excellence

• We got stale.

• Classroom numbers are increasing.

• Competition is growing.

• We decided to change.

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

We decided to stir the pot

WE ARE

• Utilizing the Office of External Education.• Experimenting with new technology.• Offering blended courses.• Investigating CE course offerings.• Offering five day intensive courses.• Insisting on a F2F student

orientation.

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

This is a time of great opportunity for education

• We are no longer stuck in “either/or.”

• We can more than ever meet the needs of the disabled.

• We have the technology to

be the best we can be.

Rosemary Walker, DDS,MBA,MS

This is a time for open minds.