Online teaching inherently involves technology. It is part of the deal. But all too often, technology can make us feel more distant from our students. It can be a barrier preventing connection instead of a tool to facilitate connection. If you have ever faced a
Like many professors, I am just trying to keep my head above water when it comes to teaching and AI. A survey conducted in August 2024 of college faculty globally showed that 35 percent viewed AI as a challenge and 65 percent viewed it as
There can be a certain inertia to teaching online, especially asynchronously. You and your students never see each other, don’t feel very connected, and by the middle of the semester may have unintentionally begun a slow slide toward phoning it in.
Whether you love it or hate it, online higher education is here to stay. In the 2022–2023 academic year, more than half of all college students in the US enrolled in at least one online class (Coffey 2024). Of course, this is much lower than
For me, the move from in-person teaching to asynchronous online teaching took place over decades, but it still presented a challenge that threatened fundamental aspects of my identity as an educator: the dynamic exchange of energy between me and my students and the importance of
Recent conversations about online learning have centered on ways to create dynamic online courses where students and instructors are engaged (Page et al., 2020). Online discussion forums are spaces where engagement happens. Here, instructors use feedback to motivate students, stimulate conversation, and encourage deep
Scenario 1: You are in your office, preparing to grade final papers. Students were required to submit them through the campus learning management system (LMS). Upon review of LMS activity, you find that several students failed to submit their papers by the due date. You
I’ve been involved in online learning for 10 years and I’ve seen massive changes, both in the technology as well as in the way people react to the idea of online learning. Even as it gains massive popularity, online learning is still not necessarily mainstream.
