Shifting Roles
In this blog post I will be discussing the shifting roles of
teachers and students as they move to online instruction versus traditional
instruction. There are different responsibilities
that both students and teachers face when transitioning to an online
environment, and by utilizing different techniques they can fulfill their role
and teach and learn effectively.
Traditional instruction is an instructor-led
environment. Instructors use white
boards and various classroom tools to transfer the knowledge from the
instructor to the student. The student
is passively learning in this particular environment. In an online environment, the educator acts
as a facilitator as opposed to an instructor.
Online educators have to design course material in a very clear, and
concise format, in order for it to be understood by the students. The instructor’s role is that of a resource,
a moderator, facilitator, coach, monitor and adviser. (Pearson) They must be able to meet the
diverse needs of the students in their class.
This is typical of the traditional classroom, but the online educator doesn’t
have the benefit of meeting with students in a face-to-face manner and getting
to know them on a daily basis. This
could be seen as a challenge the online educator faces.
Another challenge the online educator faces is time
management. They must find time to be
available for their students and there is no such thing as regular office hours
in an online course. It’s important to
be flexible and know your students and that they might be working late into the
night, so “office hours” could potentially be at 9pm depending on the time zone
of you and your students. It’s more of a
challenge than the traditional educator who can say they’ll be in their
classroom directly after school if a student needs them.
One technique instructors can use when transitioning to
teaching online is to ask themselves who their students are. What are you, as an online educator, trying
to accomplish in your class? Have you
developed the course so that is an effective learning environment for your
students? It’s important to have some of
these questions defined before attempting to teach online because what works
face-to-face in the traditional environment doesn’t necessarily translate well
online. Transitioning to online
instruction takes careful planning and evaluation of yourself as an educator.
The online student has to take on the role of being an
active learning in the online environment.
The instructor will guide them, but the student has to be able to be
capable of having strong organizational skills, be self-disciplined, and
responsible enough to know due dates complete their assignments
accordingly. The student in a
traditional class will more than likely have several reminders of due dates and
assignments on a daily basis as told to them by the instructor. That is not true in an online
environment. A student’s success will be
entirely up to them.
For some students, these will be challenges. Time management will be a big challenge for a
lot of online students because other factors come into play. It’s not just about going to a class and
showing up, but it’s about juggling a job, family, and then school. A student will need to have solid time
management skills and be self-disciplined enough to know when and how an
assignment will get done.
Another challenge for an online student will be navigating
the Internet and the school’s LMS system.
It’s not easy learning a new system and knowing where to go when you
need help. It’s important that a student
can ask for help when needed in order to facilitate their own success. In order to mitigate this challenge, a
student will have to have strong communication skills, as well as just being a
self-starter and asking for help and not waiting until frustration has set in
and they’re on a time constraint. Another
way to mitigate this challenge is to watch videos that show how to navigate the
LMS that the university provides.
For students to successfully transition from a traditional
role to a new, online role, they can employ a couple techniques. One thing the student can do is to learn and
watch every help video that is provided by the university to navigate the LMS
and classroom. There are resource videos
provided for many aspects of the LMS and if a student watches them it will help
eliminate confusion and frustration before it becomes an issue.
Another technique that can be used is to blend online
technology in with other classroom techniques to help prepare the student ahead
of time for what they may encounter when transitioning to a distance learning
program. This exposes students to new
teaching methods and resources that can help them learn more effectively. (Bauman, 2015)
Transitioning from a traditional classroom to an online
classroom can be beneficial and fraught with difficulties. With the proper training and education, the
transition can be relatively painless for both student and instructor. Once you have identified why you want to be
an online instructor or online student, and what your role will be within that
environment, you can start figuring out what you need to learn in order to be
successful.
References
Roles and
responsibilities of online learners [Lesson presentation]. (n.d.).
Available from
http://www.pearsonlearningsolutions.com
Bauman, K., (2015). How
Teachers Can Help Students Transition Into Higher Education.
Retrieved from
Cuellar, N.,
(2002). The Transition From
Classroom Teaching to Online Teaching. Nursing
Forum,37(3).
eLearners,. (2018). The
Challenges of Being an Online Professor.
Retrieved from
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