Just
Plain Bill
But I
don’t “know” you…
One
belief I’ve held onto during my over 40 years of teaching and training, is that
my learners tend to master and apply what I’m teaching in direct proportion to
how well I “know” them. I’m not sure how else to state that belief, but it’s
becoming more of a factor as I’m doing more online teaching at this time.
My
personal experience of this concept from the learner’s perspective is quite
limited. I took one correspondence course in the military
through USAFI, the United States Armed Forces Institute. The course was free,
with literally no interaction, and I discovered very quickly that the lack of
personal connection led to my non-engagement, which resulted in failing the
course.
Was my failure just a result of my
learning style? My preferences for engagement, involvement, and comment?
I’ve added webinars to my online
courses, which allow me to have limited engagement with directed questions and
responses, and I combine them with a commitment to include personal, individual
phone calls to discuss course progress. I find I do gain some valued contact
with online students, which helps me customize any remedial or enriching work
in my courses.
The jury is still out, but I have
hopes for additional “knowing” moving forward, searching for new ways of
connecting, to be a more effective teacher.
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