This summer, I’m trying something new.

I’m designing (and teaching) an online class – English III, Summer 2012.  (You can see the class, but you can’t fully participate unless you sign up.)

This is no small undertaking for me because while I’ve become accustomed to taking and teaching hybridized classes (some parts online, some parts in person) I have no prior knowledge of what makes an online class a good online class.  To find out more, I’ve done a little research – previewed other people’s classes, and tried to think about what would really help me as an online student.

Who knows if I’ve done it well?

There are aspects of this process that I like – the challenge of rethinking teaching methods, the ease of interacting with students in less of a “pressure cooker” situation, the focus on educational efficiency, and changing my role from “keeper of knowledge” to “curator of knowledge”.

However, there are aspects that bother/annoy me.  The inability to change course or gauge effectiveness from my students reactions.  I’m an incredibly social person, so not being able to read my students facial expressions or body language makes me feel a bit handicapped as a teacher.  (It’s like the time – on Star Trek: TNG – Deanna Troy flipped out because she lost her ability to empathically read people… By the way, if we hadn’t already established that I’m a geek, I think we have now.)  I don’t like the idea of not being able to speed up or slow down information for students as necessary – I make the lessons, and they plow or plod through them.  I need to figure out other ways of building differentiation into the course so that students can go for an added challenge, or take it slower if they need to.  I also don’t like the repetitiveness of some of the assignments.  Read the text, answer the questions, move on.  I’ve added in assessments that make use of Web 2.0 tools – or at least tried to.  Make a ThingLink, do a video response, join the discussion board… but, I’m trying very hard to make these sorts of assessments actual assessments and not arbitrary activities.

Oh, and I being attached to a computer/smart phone all day.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, I’m completely and totally open.

I was not trained for this!  But I’m open to learning.