Getting Through ...

As I continue my journey towards a PhD, I decided to take three classes this quarter. Insanity, I know, and yet it is hard to believe that I am about a third of the way through. The end is already in sight, and it is going by so fast!

Maybe it is because the classes work well together. Cognitive Learning, Learning Theories, and Lifespan Development share so much in common, so I draw on what I am learning in each class to help the other ... And yet, what I find remarkable are the differences in the quality of the teaching between the three different courses.

Online teaching is very different from a regular classroom--especially at Capella --because so much depends on the written correspondence. This has become quite obvious as I compare the differences in how I feel about the teacher and the class itself. The tone of what a professor writes contributes to the dynamics of the class and there is so much sub-text in what is written.

You can tell when a teacher likes to teach, just in how much s/he contributes and how much s/he interacts with the students. One of the best classes, so far, was where a teacher really *talked* to us about what we were writing, prodding us to be more explicit and definitive in our answers. Contrasting this to a class I am currently taking, is a teacher who doesn't *talk* openly to us at all. She maintains a private conversation and it is isolating. Part of online learning is the sharing of information and what a teacher *says* to the other students.

Also important to online teaching is for the student to have a sense that the teacher likes the students. In a class where students feel liked there is open communication. They feel free to comment and interact with each other. But ... from my experience in a class I am currently taking, the teacher from the *get-go* threatens every deadline and expectation with "or you will get a zero". I call her the zero tolerance teacher. Her expectations are ridiculous when comparing her requirements with the lifestyle of an online learner and what Capella has already designed.

Online learners are different. They are going to school because they want an education. They are working or retired professionals with real life experiences and recognize their desire to have a college or advanced degree. They are not the typical 18-year-old at a brick and mortar college who need supervision and/or threatening deadlines. Many of the students in my classes at Capella are much older and have a LOT to contribute in classroom discussions. All they want to do is "get the work done" and have a sense of overall enjoyment through that process. As a result, it becomes clear that a really good online teacher understands the people who are in the class and adjusts the deadlines to make them more realistic for the learner.

It is an interesting process. Online learning is successful when the student is responsible and responsive because the student cannot hide from the learning process. At the same time, if the online teacher is supportive, recognizing that the learner has a real life outside of the online environment, then a class is successful in educating the student. It is the genuine contribution of both the teacher and the students that is getting you through ...