I am thrilled.
I am beginning my second year on the TT. Having had largely negative experiences teaching online courses in the past, I've found over the past year that I actually sort of ENJOY teaching online when I have autonomous control over my course content. The area served by my CC is one of the largest and most sparsely populated in the country, so there is a big push to offer more courses online. Since many of the more senior faculty members HATE teaching online, I have filled a niche, and I've realized I am more likely to be able to teach (and fill up) my dream classes if I develop them online.
So I am developing my all time dream course online. This is the first time I've created a course solely for online delivery instead adapting an on-ground course for online delivery.
I’ve found myself thinking about an old post by expatinuk in “Who is distance ed for?” thread:
I think that one of the biggest problems with the way that DL is approached is that in too many cases it tries to replicate the classroom experience.
Perhaps because my field is new media the thought of putting classes online is just ... well... it's what we need to be doing. I've just developed an online degree in conjunction with 5 European Universities. It's aimed at the professional who is currently working in the new media industry. Each university contributes a set number of classes. Students enroll and remain students at their home institution, but they take classes from all of the institutions... they are virtual exchange students.
So when they take an Estonian class they have to follow the class schedule and structure in Estonia. We're promoting this as a shared European experience.
The other thing that I've done in ALL the years I've been teaching online (since 1994) is to have outside guests contribute to the discussion. My guests have ranged from people who are well known in the industry to (my fave) a single mother who had NO education, yet managed to support her five children - quite well I might add - by doing live strip shows on the net with a webcam.
We are now working on an idea that will go across classes and will involve Second Life. Students will work together in cross cultural teams to build an artifact in Second Life. The next semester they have to sell their creation and earn Linden Dollars. The two classes involved are: Project Management and Entrepreneurship in New Media.
So, who is DL for? It can be for anyone as long as the instructor implements it in a manner to use the environment to its best.
So I am interested in hearing about what you do online that you can't do (or do as effectively) in the classroom. My class is in the humanities, and it involves a lot of visual media.
