What are the qualities that help instructors succeed when teaching online? That was the focus of a lively discussion at the 14th annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning Nov. 6.
Presenter Bill Phillips of the University of Central Florida discussed findings from his research on the topic. Not surprisingly, he said, successful online instructors share many of the same characteristics that successful teachers in traditional classrooms exhibit--but they also spend a lot of time establishing a persona of approachability and ensuring students' comfort in the course.
Top News - These traits make online teachers successful
Posted by dcannell at November 8, 2008 11:41 AM | TrackBackDarren, if this is a topic you are interested in I would direct you to the word that Niki Davis did at Iowa State University on the Teaching Education Goes Into Virtual Schooling project (note that Niki is down in New Zealand now). The project webpage is available at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~vschool/TEGIVS/homepage.html
While the project focuses upon preparing teachers to be able to support students in the online environment (both those teaching online and those teachers in the local schools), the basis of their program includes information on what is an effective online teacher. The case studies that they developed in an earlier project (see http://projects.educ.iastate.edu/~vhs/index.htm ) are quite useful in that regard.
Posted by: Michael Barbour at November 8, 2008 9:32 PM