Expectations and Demands in Online Teaching
Latest Publications


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

12
(FIVE YEARS 0)

H-INDEX

0
(FIVE YEARS 0)

Published By IGI Global

9781599047478, 9781599047492

Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

This chapter concludes the discussion of the online teaching experience by making a few suggestions and offering advice presumably valuable to school administrators, online teachers, online curriculum and course developers as well as to educational technology professionals. It discusses ways to influence teachers to teach online—a direct application of the theory presented in the previous chapter. The intent of the chapter is to help these constituencies adjust to and be able to exert a positive effect on online education and online teaching in particular.


Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

This chapter sets out to present a theory of the online teaching experience, as viewed by the teachers of online courses. It draws on the core categories presented in the previous two chapters (“Central Ideas: Teaching” and “Central Ideas: Technology”). The chapter proceeds by validating the core categories by means of triangulation with other published research, by identifying relationships and interplay among the 10 core categories, and by formulating the theory in narrative form.


Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

The chapter explores how teachers use information technology for their online courses, and the possible variations in the meaning they derive from their online teaching experiences. The interviewed teachers share their online experiences and offer several interesting suggestions. Technology is ubiquitous in everybody’s life nowadays, and teachers are no exception to this rule. Whether teaching in the traditional classroom only, or online, the greatest majority of instructors include technology in their teaching process. For example, they prepare course materials on the computer, typing up lectures, student assignments, and presentations. They are definitely not afraid to use technology in support of their teaching, and are not avoiding it. However, the online educational environment is fundamentally different in that it poses specific challenges to teachers. Among the issues that concern them are those related to the instructional processes, media richness, technology reliability, uneven access to technology, and the social isolation of the online teacher. The contents of this chapter should help increase teachers’ awareness of what challenges awaits for them in the online classroom.


Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

This chapter sets out to discover how teachers view online teaching and what they experience when teaching online. It focuses on the stories that the 44 instructors shared with me during the interviews taken for this book. A brief perusal through the literature shows reports of increased time demands, more preparation and hard work, and a need for improved technical skills are just some of the issues that online education was reported to put upon teachers. Yet, as a result of this research, new issues were found, enhancing the knowledge on this subject of online teaching; for example, the extent of the adjustments made by teachers (discussed in greater detail in Chapter VII), the skill gap in technology among teachers and students (covered in Chapter V), and the tradeoffs faced by the teachers when moving to an online educational environment.


Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

In the previous chapters, teachers shared their experiences and feelings about online teaching; we have seen some of the perspectives related to online teaching and to teaching in general. Teachers talked about how the online environment affects them and their teaching style; about the tradeoffs they find; the issues associated with technology and teaching online; about the adjustments they feel they have to make; and about the benefits and the losses they notice as a result of their teaching online. Thus this chapter tries to put things in perspective and find out how, if at all, these stories intersect. The chapter also focuses on the central ideas that are related to technology and its use in the online classroom, ideas that have been derived from the interview data.


Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

In the previous chapters, teachers shared their online teaching stories. They talked about how the online environment affects them and their teaching, about the tradeoffs they find, the issues associated with technology and teaching online, and about the adjustments they feel they make. They also shared the benefits and the losses they notice as a result of their teaching online. While all these data are fascinating, it is now time to put things in perspective and find out how, if at all, these stories intersect and help us coin a better understanding of the teachers’ experiences in the online environment. This chapter focuses on the central ideas that are related to teaching and will discuss the first four core categories identified: Teaching, Teaching Demands, Teacher Needs, and Teaching Dimensions.


Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

Teachers are aware of and reflect on a variety of issues related to teaching online. In responding to the demands they notice, they highlight certain things they would like to change—things they feel would improve their online teaching. Without a doubt, their use of technology in the classroom affects their teaching. As technology continues to improve, its usability, availability, and actual use are ongoing concerns. The same can be said for curriculum development, course design, and faculty training. As the teaching profession is changing, different challenges are posed to teachers and universities.


Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

In this chapter, teachers share their thoughts regarding the determinants for success in online teaching that makes some online teachers successful. A brief review of the relevant published literature is followed by a discussion of the determinants of online teaching success, substantiated by copious citations from the interviews conducted for this book. Several issues identified by our teachers are very important for ensuring that online teaching is successful. Emotional involvement, teacher effectiveness, student quality, and technology reliability are only some of the issues affecting online teaching success. Teachers care deeply about their profession and find that the relatively static design of the online courses leaves little room for experimentation and quick adjustments. Online, they are more effective in helping students improve their writing. In the classroom, they are more effective in helping them reflect on the world.


Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

This chapter presents a detailed analysis of four in-depth interviews with four selected teachers. Forty-four interviews were performed for this study, with professors and teachers from all levels of graduate and undergraduate education. It was a difficult task to sort out just four examples that would be most representative for the entire group. Each interview revealed extraordinary personalities, driven in their profession by passion and love toward the act of educating. Nevertheless, to meet the purpose of this chapter, and reflect opinions about both on-ground and online teaching, four teachers were selected. Two of them, Jeremy and Deborah, are practicing only onground teaching. The other two, Derek and Sarah, teach mainly online or hybrid courses, but with experience teaching on-ground courses as well. They were profiled in greater depth in order to allow the reader a better understanding of the teachers’ teaching experiences and their motivation. The names of the participants profiled, as well as the names of their employers or place of employment, are purposely fictitious or vague, in order to protect their anonymity. Many of the issues they bring with regard to teaching in general, or teaching online, mirror issues already reported in prior, existing studies. The background section presents a summary of current findings, with regard to this subject, which are reenforced by the findings of this study. Yet, other issues such as the teachers’ passion for the profession, the delicate interplay among the various facets of online teaching, and the proposed explanation for teachers’ choice of teaching environments are novel to these interviews.


Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

This chapter explores possible tradeoffs teachers identify in relation to online teaching. Instructors, in the process of teaching, have to constantly interact with their students, with their peers, with academic departments, with school administrators, course developers, and many others. The environment in which they function—the form of teaching—poses specific challenges they need to recognize and manage in order to maintain their effectiveness as teachers. The subjects who were interviewed for this book share their perceptions and experiences regarding the potential and actual tradeoffs to online teaching. They try to compensate, for example, for the lack of visual communication cues factual in the online environment, by modifying the design of the presentation slides they use in class and by changing the format of the course to adapt the materials to the different modality. They also note behavioral changes and gains in communication, with some teachers reporting changing to a completely different online persona. The tradeoffs lead to adjustments that may affect the instructors’ communication style, teaching style, and even their entire teaching philosophy. Ultimately, these affect their career choices.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document