After 20 years of classroom teaching, it has been an interesting transition to teaching online. For years I was skeptical that real teaching and learning could take place in an online forum, but I have completely changed my opinion on that. I have been part of wonderful, challenging discussions and seen amazing work come out of the online classes that I teach. Online classes provide a way for people in many different places to come together and share ideas and experiences. They also provide a huge amount of flexbility - very important for those with jobs, school and families to be able to take courses when they otherwise might not be able to.
The technology can be challenging at times, but like anything else, it's just a matter of getting the hang of it. I was terrified of the technology aspect the first time I taught online, but now I could handle it in my sleep. I have seen my students go through the same process. For us digital immigrants, this is actually a pretty empowering and confidence-building experience.
Dear Janine,
ReplyDeleteYou are quite right when you said that online teaching is as good as real classroom teaching. To some extent, I agree with that but I also feel that at times what can be missing is the human touch. Although the teacher's virtual presence is there and if the students can avail of the latest technology then live chat and conferencing are also possible, still I feel that it might be 90% or if 99.99% successful, and 0.01 will be still missing. This is what I also have experienced.
But thanks to technology....!!!
Thanks.
Mohini