Jim’s viewable streams of thought

     One thing I’ve learned through the example of Alex, is the importance of reaching out and engaging students on a personal level.  In Scorza’s article, Do Students Dream of Electric Teachers, the point is made about the distance that naturally occurs through a computer screen and the internet in an online course.  It’s quite easy to be formal and take a formal tone.  The traditional classroom allows for personal contact and the chance for professors and students to interact more personably or at least gauge personalities.  In an online environment, this is much more difficult, all the natural body language, the subtle gestures, and facial expressions that we use to personally interact are gone; all that remains is often the cold hard text.  It’s easy to see into things that aren’t there and to misread comments and suggestions.  The online teacher needs to make a special effect to be personable and reach out to their individual students and find a way to insert connection and communication in personable terms.  Teachers of course must behavior professionally, but our role is different from the accountant.  It’s why I became a teacher;  for me, Teaching  is about interacting, supporting, and caring about other people, while helping them to grow.  The online environment makes it all too easy to turn teaching merely into the process of educating about content.  That would be a great loss because we are engaged in a people business, we don’t push a product, we guide & facilitate.  I didn’t quite understand what Scorza was talking about until few days ago… 

Thanks Alex!

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