During my time in the science education world, I’ve been fortunate to both enroll in and facilitate various online courses. I think these types of online opportunities afford a lot of great benefits, and even when the class is focused on a certain content area, I always manage to learn about educational practices too. My experiences with online courses have mostly been in the realm of professional development, but the lessons I’ve learned translate to use with students too. If you’ve never participated in an online program, I hope this post encourages you to take the plunge!
I really like that online courses allow me the opportunity to collaborate with teachers across the country and even across the world. In each school district, state, or country, teachers are faced with different constraints and limitations. Since educators are a crafty bunch, we always manage to find ways to overcome these limitations, and online courses are a great way to share best practices and learn from educators with different perspectives. As kind of a side note, online courses also allow me to share my better ideas at a time that is convenient to me. I find that a lot of my best thinking is done in the middle of the night, and it is nice to be able to jump online and post my ideas right then and there. By bringing together teachers from various places and facilitating collaboration at anytime of the day, online courses make it easier than ever to share great ideas.
They’re also a nice way to make new friends and connections. I try to make sure that while facilitating online courses, I allow participants to build a strong sense of community even if they never meet face-to-face. For example, I will create online forums where the teachers are encouraged to share things that may be unrelated to the course content. This can include pictures of grandkids, talk about sporting events, or book suggestions. Although I have never had an in-person meeting with many of the teachers I’ve worked with online, I feel that I have a great sense of who they are both professionally and personally. Even if the online course does have a face-to-face component, some people are more comfortable sharing ideas and thoughts in an online setting so you may get to see a new side to your friends and colleagues.
Finally, online courses encourage me to get creative. I want my online lesson plans to be just as engaging as face-to-face lessons, and sometimes this is more difficult that it seems. I’ve taken online courses that are just lectures or assigned readings and discussions. For me, this is a lot less exciting than a lesson that uses the technology to do something that couldn’t be done in a face-to-face situation. Both taking and teaching online courses have helped me think about the role that technology can play in the classroom (more on this in future posts), and I appreciate that online opportunities spark this kind of creativity.
I know many museums and universities offer online opportunities for educators, but several other institutions are exploring online courses too. Do you have suggestions for online course providers? Have you taken a great online course that we should know about?
