Teaching Online

Sorry for the lack of blogging this past week. As I mentioned in the last post I'm teaching an online class this summer so been spending most of my non-reference desk time working on developing the class. And doing the podcast.

The class is non-descriptively called ATEC 1203, for Applied Technology. It's a one credit class covering computer basics like Word and PowerPoint along with basic Internet and library research skills. Librarians often get asked to cover the Internet and library units in F2F sections on various campuses but I've never taught the whole class. Or taught online before.

Developing the content so far definitely gives me more respect from instructors who teach distance or online classes. The course is relatively simple: there's a book developed by a local committee that all sections use so the material is all right there. But even just getting the basics organized in WebCT Vista is very time consuming. Not to mention working on getting the content that would be delivered in a classroom lecture together and translated into an online learning experience.

I've got the basic content pretty much done so now just a matter of making it a little richer and finishing some of the assignments. But a lot of that I'm going to do on the fly during the semester.

Anyone out there who has done some online teaching have any advice or tips?