Relationships and Influence (Part 3 - Online Teaching)

by Steve Huerd

Last year I began teaching an online master’s level course.  At first I admit to being overcome and even intimidated by all the technology and the speed at which I had to learn it all.  Being that I was located a thousand miles away from the university where I was teaching, the only real instruction I received was watching online videos dealing with how to use blackboard.  And, of course, I had problems!  However, with patient email interaction with the university, I was finally able to communicate with my students.

I somehow obtained pictures of my students’ faces and immediately printed them out in color along with other vital information so that I could put a name with a face.  At the outset, it seemed like there was no one out there, only dark blackness!  I was posting all of this information, syllabus, pictures, etc. without seeing anyone or hearing anything back.

Then one by one, they started to respond with, “Hey, is this such and such a class?  I just found out that I was taking this course and …”  The first assignment I gave them was to pick out who the prof was in a group picture I had put on the main page.  I wanted them to put my name with my face.

A couple of students “forced” me to initiate with them individually since they hadn’t initially responded to my online stimulus package.  During our first “discussion thread interaction,” there was hardly any interaction at all.  So, I decided to apply my old coaching philosophy of coming down hard the first week of practice and laying down my expectations.  I told them, “I can’t give you full credit here since you didn’t interact with at least two other people in here.”  They responded well to that and I began to see much more traffic the following week.

In an effort to further establish relationships, I offered times for them to Skype with me but no one responded.  Then I knew that the “relationship” I had with them was just going to be different and there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it.  So, I threw caution to the wind and just kept encouraging and constantly sending them relevant materials right up to the end of the course.

The result?  I received good instructor ratings with one student commenting to another professor that this course was in the top two he had taken during the whole master’s program!  The next semester another student from that initial cohort signed up for another online course I taught.  To this day, I’ve never met any of these students in person, but at least I know I made a small difference in their lives!

Internet Anxiety

by Sharon Warkentin Short

 I belong to the last generation of people who are amazed by what can be accomplished online. I have located out-of-print books, purchased shoes in hard-to-find sizes, found cheap airfares, downloaded articles from obscure journals, conversed with people on other continents, participated in classes, searched for jobs, reconnected with old friends, edited dissertations, and completed a host of other tasks—all using this astonishing resource called the internet.

            On the other hand, because for most of my life this powerful tool did not exist, I am also part of a generation who is quite anxious about the implications of using the worldwide web. The very same technology that enables me to find out so much from around the world also allows anyone in the world to find out a great deal about me. It makes me nervous to realize that the products I buy, the websites I peruse, even the Facebook messages that I post, are all noticed, recorded, and used to market new products and services to me. Not only that, but the information that this vast, complex system called the internet accumulates about me never goes away—it is always immediately accessible to anyone who knows how to look for it.

            Having experienced the incredible advantages of the internet, however, I do not expect that I will ever go back to living without it. In fact, I am so excited about its educational potential that I am building a career as an online instructor. I have made peace with my “internet anxiety” by accepting one simple reality, namely, that the internet is a completely public venue. It feels deceptively private and anonymous, but as long as I recognize that nothing—absolutely nothing—that I do by means of the internet can be kept hidden, it will probably not hurt me. My solution is to transmit online only the same sort of information that I would be willing to see printed in a magazine, mentioned in a newspaper, reported on a television show, or announced on a marquee. These examples are public media with which we have all grown up, and we have a clear sense of what would be wise and appropriate to publicize in these sorts of ways. The relative newness of the internet, combined with its illusion of secrecy, tempts people to relay information about themselves and say things about others that they would never consider publicizing through more traditional channels, and therein lies the danger. Recognizing that the internet is as communal as a billboard but much more widely accessible frees me to use it prudently as the worldwide public information forum that it actually is.