Facilitating Online Courses: What to Expect When Teaching Online

Teaching online changes the dynamic of a class. This can present unique challenges but also opportunities you haven't had in the past. Expectations change both for you and for the students. By preparing yourself for this new frontier, you can better serve your students and create the kind of class environment you desire.

To begin, we must draw some distinctions between a face-to-face course and an online course.

• In a face-to-face course you use body language more frequently to gauge your students. In this environment, human communication is key to student engagement and less formalized teaching techniques can be more readily used. In the online environment written communication becomes much more important. You and your students must be able to gauge in dynamic text communication in order to be successful.
• In the online environment, you will need to spend more time in development and planning. This is necessary for your course to run smoothly. You may also need to address technical difficulties, have instructions, guides or personnel to assist you.
• Grammatical errors or misplaced instructions can create problems in the online class.

Just as that there are challenges, there are also opportunities in the online environment.

• You and your students are more accountable for correspondence sent, comments made, grades given and more. Some of the research available has suggested that because communication is mainly written and we naturally take more time to compose such communication, that the online environment could be well used in promoting learning in more complex areas of knowledge. 
• The online environment can also be great for student interaction because it requires all students to participate not just the outgoing students in class. 
• The online environment is flexible allowing more people to utilize it. Your students expect a few key things from you. They will want quick responses, whether it pertains to their grades, assignments or any questions they have.

There are also expectations that you should set for your students.

• You should request honesty in assignments and correspondence
• You should expect timeliness in turning in homework, completing quizzes and more.
• Students have to be more responsible for their own learning in the online environment. Therefore, you should create a culture of accountability in your classes. 

Summary

Be Patient. Transitioning to online teaching can be stressful for teachers and students because it is different for everyone - especially if they have little or no experience with teaching or learning online.

Spell It Out. Without the face-to-face interaction, giving clear instructions and expectations is the key to success in an online class. If students can understand what is expected of them they will turn in better work. And you’ll get fewer emails!

Be Consistent. At least, as consistent as you can be. We all tend to feel more comfortable when we have a routine, so having a consistent way of communicating (Sapphire, email) a consistent way of distributing and collecting assignments (Sapphire or Google Classroom), and even a consistent layout or organization method for the way you present assignments will be a great help to your students - and save your sanity!

Remember, one of your best resources are your fellow teachers. Discuss with other online instructors their experiences, challenges, success, and try to learn from them. You can gain a great deal from others who have been in your shoes.