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Psych 101 vs. Online Teaching

I am a big fan of online learning.  When I started college, I struggled... really struggled.  For example?  I ended up taking Psychology 101 three times.  After the second fail, my wife implemented a new family rule for my college career.


And that was fair.  With our first baby, a new mortgage, a car payment, and paying tuition, it certainly made good financial sense to not repeat classes.  So why the Psych class fails and the struggle through my associate's degree?  At the time, I was an undiagnosed ADD adult that wanted to study music.  I didn't see how psychology (or those dumb math classes) was (were) going to get me into a position of being a world-class musician.  The content felt irrelevant to me and my first two psych professors didn't seem to have any interest in changing that.  Read, lecture, notes, test; read, lecture, notes, test; ad nauseam.  Testing was about 70% of the grade so when I didn't test well, I flunked.  I finally got through with my AS degree with a music emphasis but I was so burned out with school that I swore I'd NEVER go back.  Whatever I was going to do with my life, it would have to be done with the education I already had.

Fast forward a decade.

I had started a piano restoration business and it was doing really well as a part-time business but, I wanted to up my business chops to really be successful.  I gleaned as much as I could from the internet but wasn't really finding the depth I wanted.  My ever-patient wife and I decided that the best option was to enroll in school.  However, by that time we had three kids, a larger mortgage, a different car payment, a growing business, and well, I mentioned the three kids.  Whew!  I didn't have TIME to go to a traditional school and lose all of the momenta that I had built into my business.  So, we looked for a hybrid or online option.  I enrolled in the University of Phoenix Business Administration program.  My wife said we have one rule...


So, with some spousal trepidation, I dived into their online college.  To be honest, I LOVED it.  I took one class at a time - all online.  Throughout each week I was allowed to work at my own pace.  Some concepts were a breeze and I was able to finish them quickly.  Other concepts required deeper diving into the text and practical application in my business to make sense to me.  If I was going on vacation, I could look ahead and prepare assignments and communicate with professors to make arrangements work to suit what my situation called for.  There were still boundaries and deadlines but the added flexibility was what allowed me to feel successful and really learn the content at a deeper level.

Fast forward another decade (almost)

...and here I am in school again.  More technology, more tools, and a diagnosis that has helped me manage my attention.

So how does an online classroom look from an instructor's perspective?  Is it as great for them as it is for the student?

There are a couple of videos posted on the Johns Hopkins School of Engineering page about the Benefits and Challenges of Teaching Online.  Here is a  short summary of the points these professors made in their video interviews.

BENEFITS
  • More ways to see learning.  
  • More evidence and artifacts that learning is taking place.
  • Required responses means everyone participates.  
  • Can open up the shy and less responsive students in a traditional classroom environment
  • Flexibility for the instructor 
  • Written curriculum allows the instructor to review and evaluate all elements of the content and make changes and revisions for future student's experiences.
CHALLENGES
  • Feeling disconnected in terms of withitness and personal connection.  
  • Engagement with students who are technologically challenged can be difficult.
  • Instructor needs clarity on where they stand in terms of expectations.
  • Time management for the instructor.  Sheer volume of discussion generated may be daunting.
  • Developing a sense of "place" and "time." 
In my teaching, online classes would be difficult, perhaps impossible - at least in the "fully automated" sense.  Choral singing must be done together, in person, with a director.  However, there are elements that I can see working well online.  Vocal health and anatomy type lessons would work well online.  Music technology could have certain units to them that are taught online.  Even with my very positive experience in an online program, I would still advocate for a blended or hybrid type approach where I get a personal "in person" experience with my students and allow them to explore aspects of music in online lessons.  

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