My personal take on Online Teaching as I know it now....

As I embarked upon teaching within the college setting, I wasn't sure what to expect. When I arrived on campus, I was truly amazed at how outdated some of the techniques were. As an outsider coming in, I felt overwhelmed with the thought of changing some of the "old habits". My first thought was how can I play an active role in this change process? My first attempt was to teach an online course on Blackboard, an introduction to nursing type of class. After I developed the syllabus and obtained help from the experts, I began my class. As the course evolved over the semester, I felt as though there was something missing. I really did not feel connected to the students, I felt like I needed to be talking to them to get my point over, and I frequently thought about the potential of students not really engaging in the course content. So, to overcome this, I began to incorporate discussion sessions, allowing students to reveal something about themselves, not related to the course. I found that this allowed me to have a sense of human connection as well as allowing the students to get to know one another! I am enrolled in this course to obtain a higher level of understanding about online teaching which will allow me to become a more effective instructor as I continue to engage the minds of the adult learner.