Elizabeth Reddington
Instructor
Applied Linguistics & TESOL
"I knew from experience that online teaching presents both opportunities and challenges. I felt that helping students feel connected to the instructor and their classmates would be important to the success of the experience. Providing clear and well-organized online learning materials would also be important."
What course did you teach?
Academic Research Writing for International Researchers
What was it about?
This advanced language course was designed to support international researchers seeking to enhance their skills in writing about their research for academic audiences in English.
Who was the audience?
International researchers and visiting scholars at Columbia and Teachers College who speak English as a second language
Had you taught this class previously in the classroom?
No
What was the format?
A hybrid course with asynchronous online work and one face-to-face meeting per week
Before you started working on your online course, what were your general perceptions and expectations about online teaching and learning?
Having taken online courses myself, and having previously converted a face-to-face course into a hybrid format, I knew from experience that online teaching presents both opportunities and challenges. I felt that helping students feel connected to the instructor and their classmates would be important to the success of the experience. Providing clear and well-organized online learning materials would also be important.
How have your previous perceptions and expectations been changed or confirmed?
My previous perceptions have been reinforced. I believe strongly that working on connection and clarity can help instructors address common challenges that arise in online learning environments—i.e., that students feel alone in their work, have trouble determining expectations and requirements, or have trouble finding the materials they need.
What challenged you?
Preparing the online layout and learning materials was the most challenging aspect of course development for me. I found it more time-consuming and labor-intensive than preparing materials for a traditional face-to-face class, in which there is always the opportunity to immediately address questions or adapt assignments and tasks based on how students are responding in the moment. Instructions for online assignments, in particular, have to be carefully thought out in advance and problems anticipated. Providing feedback on online assignments was also more time-consuming and labor-intensive for me.
What would you do differently?
In the future, I will spend more time in the early face-to-face meetings introducing the course site and how I recommend using it so that students can get to know it more quickly and feel comfortable.
What about online teaching and learning would you like to explore more in the future?
I would like to continue to explore ways of providing effective and efficient feedback online, such as by using recordings as opposed to primarily written feedback and incorporating some opportunities for peer review and feedback.
What advice would you give to other teachers who will be teaching online for the first time?
I would suggest planning extra time for all tasks, including materials development and grading/providing feedback, than you would for a face-to-face class. I would also advise working in smaller “chunks” of time (and I would offer the same advice to students -- although a lot of work could be accomplished online in one sitting, this may not be the ideal way to work). I would also encourage teachers to be open-minded about the online learning environment and willing to experiment to find the best ways to engage students in the learning experience.
