The Teaching Online Challenge
What is the best and most effective way for YOU to teach online?
According to the Online Report Card – Tracking Online Education in the United States , in 2014, there were 5.8 million students in the United States who took at least one college distance course. The study reveals only 29.1% of academic leaders say their faculty accept the “value and legitimacy of online education.” Growth continues, despite lack of support from faculty. As a dedicated teaching professional, you see an opportunity in closing the “value and legitimacy” gap to meet the needs of your online students. The essential question to you is; what is the best and most effective way for you to teach online? You are challenged to create a Teaching Online Action Plan to systematically improve your online teaching!
How It Works
This challenge is designed to help you develop your Teaching Online Action Plan to apply in your own teaching. There is no requirement of prior knowledge or experience teaching online to participate in the challenge. You are the expert who knows your content and teaching strengths. This challenge is designed to provide a flexible, reflective and personal learning experience – enabling you to tailor your learning based upon your own goals, requirements and level of commitment. The challenge runs for 8 weeks . You can complete the challenge as quickly as you want. However, we encourage you to work together with other participants, and complete one Guiding Question Worksheet per week. When you complete all tasks on your worksheet, and update your Teaching Online Action Plan , you receive a badge. When you complete all 8 tasks, you will have developed your Teaching Online Action Plan . Plus you will receive a Letter of Completion to promote yourself.
The Weekly Learning Process
Mondays
On Mondays a link to a worksheet template will be emailed that contains a guiding question, a link to related content, and a process to follow to help you develop your Teaching Online Action Plan . The worksheet template will also be posted in the Google + Community .
Thursdays
Complete your worksheet by the end of Thursday, and post your results in the Google+ Community .
Sundays
Comment on two other worksheets by the end of Sunday. Provide further insight into to the participant’s results. Practice improving your online interaction with insightful commenting. Post your results into your Teaching Action Plan and edit them as necessary.
Join the Google+ Community
Under an agreement with Google, the University of Hawaii (UH) offers two types of Google applications through Google@UH: Core applications (Core Apps) and Consumer applications (Consumer Apps).
Consumer Apps include Google+ which is governed by either Google’s general Terms of Services or by app-specific terms.
To use the Consumer Apps with your Google@UH account, you must first turn on the Consumer Apps at http://www.hawaii.edu/google/extra . Instructions to turn on the Consumer Apps are at http://www.hawaii.edu/askus/1649 .