What it Means to Be an Online Instructor

1. What it Means to Be an Online Instructor Kimberly R. Burgess, Ph.D. Troy University, Albany Site Troy University eTROY Colloquium April 17-18, 2012

2. Traditional Online Instruction • Selecting Appropriate Content • Moderating Discussion • Building Community • Infusing Technology • Assessment & Feedback

3. Holistic Online Instruction

4. Mentoring • What is mentoring? • Why is mentoring online necessary? • What are the challenges to mentoring online? • How does one mentor online?

5. Mentoring • What is mentoring? • A one-on-one relationship that lasts over an extended period of time, where the mentor and protégé journey together through phases of entry to exit. • Helping the less experienced be knowledgeable in, and become a successful part of, the system within which the protégé seeks to exist. • Focusing on the long-term development of the protégé rather than short-term performance.

6. Mentoring • Why is mentoring online necessary? • Supporting the novice • New to the field • New to the format • Supporting the marginalized • Histories of imposed silence and discrimination • Issues of power and privilege

7. Mentoring • What are the challenges to mentoring online? • Faculty-student interaction is often brief, sporadic, and isolated. • Issues of position (race, class, gender) • Time, time, time

8. Mentoring • How does one mentor online? • Keeping your eye on the student • Mentor from dependence to independence. • Embrace a culturally relevant paradigm. • Seek individual connections as much as possible. • Actively listen to students’ stories. • Providing windows to the future • Model revelation and reflection • Expose students to the profession • Develop social capital

9. Mentoring • How does one mentor online? • Inviting chaos when appropriate • “Toss ‘cow plops’ on the road of truth” (Daloz, 1999). • Use frustration as a learning opportunity? • Inviting others to mentor • Peer mentoring • Graduate assistants

10. Mentoring • Mentoring reminds the instructor that students are individuals who are at different learning stages, have differing goals and expectations, and have needs different from those of their instructors.

11. Facilitating Spiritual Learning • The experience of spirit is outward looking and allows the individual to connect to relationships and realities beyond the immediacy of body and mind. • Spiritually is the expression of an individual’s quest for meaning.

12. Facilitating Spiritual Learning • Spiritual learning helps us to: • Connect with a higher consciousness • Move beyond the limits of our model of reality • Connect to others in meaningful ways • Move toward a holistic sensation associated with total involvement.

13. Facilitating Spiritual Learning • Facilitators need to provide very safe, supportive, environments in which openness to new ideas will not result in feelings of being discounted or devalued. • Facilitators need to provide a variety of activities in which learners can become aware of and identify different states of consciousness. • Facilitators need to avoid agreement, approval, or rejection of both positive and negative ideas and feelings about self.

14. Facilitating Spiritual Learning • Provide opportunities and “lots of time” to reflect on and share thoughts and experiences. • Facilitators need to encourage learners to look for connections in unlikely places.

15. Facilitating Reflective Learning • Significant learning experiences in adulthood involve critical self-reflection – reassessing what and how we perceive, believe, feel, and act. • Accelerated courses are criticized for providing less time for reflection and analysis. • Online courses are criticized for presenting passive learning contexts that limit the capacity for learners to move toward reflection.

16. Facilitating Reflective Learning • The Instructor Matters • Preparation matters • Questions matter • Challenges matter • Safety matters • The Student Matters • Experience matters • Interaction matters • The Design Matters • Privacy • Accountability

17. Holistic Online Instruction

18. From Method to Mentoring • Online instructors who choose to incorporate mentoring techniques into their practice are acknowledging that students deserve attention and nurturing both within and beyond the content.

19. Are there Any Questions?