Title: Increasing Instructor Visibility in Online Classes
Date: November 14, 2012 Time: 3:30p.m. - 4:30p.m. (EST)
Presenter: Dr. Satarupa (Rupa) Das, Montgomery College
Description: One of the fundamental criticisms against online education has been the lack of presence and interaction of a human teacher. Both traditional educators and students have alleged that the students miss out on the benefit of a teacher's presence in the classroom including lectures, interactions, the oral explanations or feedbacks. As a result, the critics contend that online education is inferior to face-to-face classroom teaching. However, online classes do not have to be just a collection of power-points and handouts. Also instructor participation does not just have to be in terms discussion area posts. With the tools of videos (made from flip camera, ipods, phones) and screencasts, the instructor can truly be present in his/her online class - with today's technology one can create a superb quality online class just as one's traditional class. An introduction by the instructor setting the tone for the course or explanation of a complex subject can take the students a long way. However, traditional and online classes are not the same. The instructor needs to be mindful of this while creating the videos.