Lesson 2: Adapting Your Teaching Style

Overview

In lesson 1, you identified your f2f teaching style so you would have a good base from which to begin discussing how to adapt that style to the online environment. Then, you read chapter 8 from You Can Teach Online because it explores the idea of adapting your teaching to an online environment. Now, you are ready to really dig deeper and start plotting how you begin adapting your style.

 

Standards, Benchmarks, and Learning Objectives

In this Unit, we're indirectly addressing almost all of the SREB Standards for Quality Online Teaching and Quality Online Courses simultaneously simply by uncovering and discussing our assumptions about online teaching and online courses. Please review the SREB Standards for Quality Online Teaching and Quality Online Courses which are listed in the content module after this lesson.

To help you meet those standards, our specific learning objectives include:

• analyze how your teaching style impacts your instructional design decisions,
• discuss how your teaching style may or may not need to be adapted for the online environment
• analyze other courses and lessons for teaching style implications

 

Assignments

1. Discussion assignment 1: Post a response. Approximately 30 minutes.
   • In WebCT Discussions, Topic: Adapting My Teaching Style, answer the following:
     • Based on your reading of chapter 8 of You Can Teach Online and any other knowledge/experience you have, select one assignment you have previously used in your f2f classroom and tell us:
       • how it reflects your personal teaching style,
       • how you would use this assignment in the online classroom,
       • how it differs from the f2f assignment, and
       • if you had to reconsider your teaching style in order to utilize this assigment in the online environment
   • How the assignment is graded - 10 points
   • Your post should answer the questions using, at a minimum, information from the text. When you reference information from the text, say something like: "According to Moore, Winograd, and Lange (pg. #), I could..." or similar citation so we can see where you got the information.
   • Your post should be a minimum of 200 words.
   • And, it goes without saying - this assignment should be posted on time
2. Discussion assignment 2: Reply to other learners. Approximately 30 minutes.
   • In WebCT Discussions, Topic: Adapting My Teaching Style, review the answers of at least two others and reply to them. Based on your experience and knowledge, your response should:
     • request clarification of all or part of the learner's answer and/or
     • provide additional suggestions for how his or her teaching style / assignment may be adapted to the online environment
   • How assignment is graded - 10 points
     • Again, there are no wrong or right answers here.
     • Reply to at least two learners using above criteria to obtain full credit.
3. Field Trip: Teaching Style Comparisons. Approximately 1 hour.
   • Visit the courses / lessons at Course Examples that correspond to the subject you are teaching.
   • Notice your initial response to each of them. Which appeals to you more or less? What does each course or lesson say about the personal teaching style of creator of the course or lesson? Which is more in keeping with your personal teaching style and why?
   • Simply reflect on your answers to the above. You don't need to do anything with the answers right now. You will, however, be asked to revisit these courses and lessons next Unit so you may wish to take notes.
4. Discussion assignment 3: Reflection Approximately 30 minutes.
   • In WebCT Discussions, Topic: ID Reflections, answer the following:
     • As a teacher / course designer, you have to make many decisions that impact the learning environment. Which decisions that you make do you feel have the most impact on the learning environment and which of those do you think you may have to modify the most to successfully teach in an online environment?
     • What two or more questions do you still have that you would ask of an expert in instructional design. We'll be coming back to these interviewer questions later as part of another learning opportunity.
   • How assignment will be graded (20 points)
     • Simply reflect on and answer all the questions in your discussion post. That's it. We promise not to have the thought police come in and say you didn't reflect deeply enough! LOL.

 

Next Step

Begin Unit 2

 

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