Up-date -- or -- Here is where I am, at the moment ;-)
Dear Classmates,
What follows is where I am in my writing process -- I think I see a direction in my thinking. How goes it for you? It was hard for me to focus on only several aspects of the reading for this assignment!
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Confessions of a Cognitive Constructivist with Cognitive Processing Leanings
My teaching preferences cannot be separated from my "personal temperament," but I am also cable of stepping outside my comfort level in my acquisition of new skills and methods of teaching. For me, learning "is" stepping outside my comfort zone and this is the learning I undertake any time I teach.
I used to hold tight to my belief that there was "no" difference between the online and face-to-face teacher. I believed that the qualities that made for an effective teacher in either case were interchangeable. I think differently now.
One of the overarching differences between face-to-face and online teaching is: the time, space and medium of our online classes are not the same as that of face-to-face classes and, in that light, we have new opportunities to engage students in their learning: in how they learn. I have always seen teaching as Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt suggest online learning should be facilitated by a "guide on the side" or a "learning facilitator" (173) -- for me this is what is meant by being a teacher. But I also understand that my students and I have different obligations to the institution and to each other and this is also part of what it means to be a teacher. I remain comfortable with the term "teacher" and, as I have mentioned elsewhere, any time I teach I am learning and I suggest the inverse is true for learners. I believe that both teachers and learners are also facilitators and should be held accountable as such.
As a teacher whose primary teaching method is the seminar (not lecture format), I am not surprised with Palloff and Pratt's finding that students identified communicating on the discussion boards, between each other and their instructor (173). My classes revolve around students generating, collectively and individually, knowledge and in this vein, I am a constructivist with cognitive leanings, according to the definitions of each offered by Susan M. Miller and Kenneth L. Miller in their article " Using Instructional Theory to Facilitate Communication in Web-based Courses."
The skills I feel that I need in order to be an effective online teacher of literature are . . .
What follows is where I am in my writing process -- I think I see a direction in my thinking. How goes it for you? It was hard for me to focus on only several aspects of the reading for this assignment!
----------------------------
Confessions of a Cognitive Constructivist with Cognitive Processing Leanings
My teaching preferences cannot be separated from my "personal temperament," but I am also cable of stepping outside my comfort level in my acquisition of new skills and methods of teaching. For me, learning "is" stepping outside my comfort zone and this is the learning I undertake any time I teach.
I used to hold tight to my belief that there was "no" difference between the online and face-to-face teacher. I believed that the qualities that made for an effective teacher in either case were interchangeable. I think differently now.
One of the overarching differences between face-to-face and online teaching is: the time, space and medium of our online classes are not the same as that of face-to-face classes and, in that light, we have new opportunities to engage students in their learning: in how they learn. I have always seen teaching as Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt suggest online learning should be facilitated by a "guide on the side" or a "learning facilitator" (173) -- for me this is what is meant by being a teacher. But I also understand that my students and I have different obligations to the institution and to each other and this is also part of what it means to be a teacher. I remain comfortable with the term "teacher" and, as I have mentioned elsewhere, any time I teach I am learning and I suggest the inverse is true for learners. I believe that both teachers and learners are also facilitators and should be held accountable as such.
As a teacher whose primary teaching method is the seminar (not lecture format), I am not surprised with Palloff and Pratt's finding that students identified communicating on the discussion boards, between each other and their instructor (173). My classes revolve around students generating, collectively and individually, knowledge and in this vein, I am a constructivist with cognitive leanings, according to the definitions of each offered by Susan M. Miller and Kenneth L. Miller in their article " Using Instructional Theory to Facilitate Communication in Web-based Courses."
The skills I feel that I need in order to be an effective online teacher of literature are . . .
