Part 2 Reflections

Part 2 Reflections

When I wrote last time, I spoke about the four parts of online teaching, which are: the pedagogical role, the social role, the managerial role and the technical role. I discussed that the pedagogical role deals with the “art” of teaching, the social role involves using sources such as social media and the ways to use them in online teaching. The third aspect is the managerial role, otherwise known as how the teacher gets to know the students and how they can make the usage friendlier towards them. Finally, the technical part was explained, which is all about creating courses. Since I already have a background in creating classes this section was very easy towards. Now, I am going to talk about the Facilitator Roles.

When discussing the role an instructor plays, making a diary should be mentioned. Since an instructor will have many duties and the online classes will add more responsibility, they should write down how they are going to fit in the class and why. As an online student, along with everything else going on in my life I find it a good idea to write down what I am going to do for that day and even that week. That way I have space allotted for online. This is something I plan to continue as an instructor.  Once an instructor has started keeping a diary (which can be just notes), one of the things they should do is make assessments. The assessments are in place before the instructor starts and are usually included in the Learning Management System used, such as Blackboard. These can include three different types of assessments: diagnostic, formative and summative. Diagnostic are usually done before class starts, formative during class and summative are after.  For example, pre-tests to see how well the students are doing, a quiz during the class would be formative and summative examples would include a final and a survey asking what a student learned. In addition, there are authentic assessments, which often consists of real-world experience, such as having them demonstrate a chemistry experiment, or doing an internship to apply what they learned.  One of the best ways’ teachers can assess students’ progress is by creating rubrics that lay out what exactly what is expected.

There is one aspect to assessments that teachers need to be aware of and that is the ethical issues and diversity. Ethical is defined as making sure teachers are teaching in a way that is fair. For example, they must be competent in the field they are studying, they need to make the class fair to all, they must be sensitive to each student’s needs, they need to make sure they are helping the student advance in the topic, they can’t play favoritism with students, they must be careful not to share things like grades with others besides the student, they need to be fair, and respect other teachers and the school. Unfortunately, many teachers forget some of this and they make it more difficult. I am dealing with a professor now who is breaking many of these rules and the ethics are being challenge. With ethical challenges, there is also cultural diversity. A good way I like to explain diversity is to make it fair to all regardless of their nationality, race, or gender, or anything that makes them unique. This can be difficult with online since some students will be different races and nationalities and ages, so a good instructor realizes this and will incorporate activities that will be beneficial such as discussing about their background.  The instructor needs to understand their life and do things that help them, including giving them more time in the case of a spoken presentation.

While looking at these aspects, I think an instructor should do several things. First, they need to create a rubric and make sure it applies to all students. Then they could ask each student to write about their background and learn that their needs. The instructor should make sure that if they do not know a background of a student they should learn. The instructor is expected to make sure they are not discriminating against a student and they are fair towards all. They also need to make sure they use several assessments depending on the student, such as having them create a video or using collaborative programs. This reminds me of when I did both of my presentations two weeks in a role. I made sure I developed Power Points that made sense and when needed, went more in-depth. This is what a teacher needs to do, including asking the students questions and answering questions. Doing these sessions made each of us more human because we often forget that when you don’t see people in person. I was glad I had to do more research to create a presentation because it prepares me for a role of online instructor. I was a little bit afraid of doing it but am glad I did it as it will help me become more confident, which will help in my online instructor position.