As a participant in the How to Teach Online MOOC, I have to say that that I am enjoying myself immensely.  As an experienced online instructor of almost 14 years, I know that technological innovation flows like a river.  It never stops, and in my experience, one can never completely master it. 
   Many seminars and training sessions tend to focus on the newest and greatest tools to come on the scene or the mechanics of this or that LMS with little regard to the big questions of why do we want to teach online and what learning objectives we hope to achieve with the coolest new toy being introduced.  The emphasis on thinking about these and other important questions in the activities within TOMOOC has been refreshing and invigorating.
   There certainly has been no shortage of discussions of new methodologies and technologies.  The use of Flipboard, Audacity, Pinterest, Powtoons, Jing, Wordle, and many others by my instructors, colleagues, and fellow participants has been inspiring and instructional.  But the discussions on Why We Teach Online, The Human Touch, Best Practices, and Building Rapport have been direct to the heart of the matters at hand in designing and implementing an online class.  Even after 38 years of teaching and several advanced degrees in education and psychology I am thinking in new ways about my teaching habits and how I help others learn more about online teaching and learning as an online learning coordinator.

  Happily the typical misguided emphasis on the need to address students' learning styles has been absent.  Instead, discussions such as Olliver Dreon's on The What, the How, and the Why Student's Learn address the need to thoughtfully plan what we want students to do with the material we are learning and to design modules to reflect this need for multiple modes of engagement.  
  Without these important reflections and the resulting understanding of the need to artfully blend robust learning activities while engaging students in meaningful ways, we not only run the risk of failing to successfully translate our message from the traditional classroom to the much different environment of the virtual classroom, but we may actually be putting our institutions at risk if this reflection does not result in the creation of  a course with truly interactive features that go beyond the mere use of periodic and student-initiated emails.  Although the concept of "substantive interaction" has not been adequately defined as yet, It is a one of the features that differentiates a distance learning class from a correspondence class as defined by the U.S. Department of Education.  Institutions have begun to see the importance of this element of online learning not only as an accreditation issue, but the true essence of what newer technologies can  do for remote learning.

Virtual Communities and Civility

  
 Virtual communities play a large role in the lives of today's youth. Well... not just in the lives of youths. Surveys demonstrate that social networking is not just an activity of the young. Researchers have shown that the use of social networks among people in the age group of 50- older, has doubled in the past year or so. Among people 65 and older, one in four, use sites related to social networking.

    So, social networking is big. And when people are nasty to each other, it no longer takes days for the news to get around. A person can impulsively post the most seemingly most trivial of thoughts to thousands simultaneously, sometimes with almost perfect anonymity.  This lack of responsibility for one's words can lead to some very bad behavior that would probably shock friends and family of the offender-- if they were aware of it.  Off-hand criticisms and comments can leave a mark.  Don't believe the "Sticks and stones can break my bones..." thing.  Words CAN hurt. And they can go on hurting for a very long time.
    As if we needed more justification for why children require monitoring in their use of social networking sites and games that include online play with others, here comes something else to think about.  Children and youth require guidance and modeling to acquire those important qualities of empathy and civility that we start instilling into our children at the youngest of ages on the playground, but we neglect in the virtual world.  "Take turns," "Let her play with you guys," "Tell him he did a good job,"  "Share your toys," "Invite him over to play with you boys,"  "Don't argue, play together,"  "It was an accident....go on and play."  Never mind the name-calling and bad language parents deal with.  But we do... mind it-except when children begin to go online and interact with others.  Then, no one may be around to keep reminding them that "we don't use that word,"  and "how do you think that made her feel?"
   It's more difficult to teach these simple lessons when applied in conditions of concealment of one's identity, shrouded in an avatar and away from parents' prying eyes.  But get your child to show you the World of Warcraft trade chat or let you view the conversation during a LFR raid and you may be shocked to learn that, while Robert Fulghum learned everything in kindergarten, others among us may need a refresher course. 
   "Trolling."  A delightful, 21st century term that describes the worst trend of this online lack of civility and troublesome behavior, can be seen in any of the social networking sites as well as any forum or chat room.  Bloggers know the term well. Post a blog, video, or a review of a movie and open it up for comments and see what collects.  The use of the word "fail" has become one of those terms about which one is no longer sure of the proper use.  It is a verb?  A Noun? "You are so fail" has become ubiquitous in the gaming community as a first-line insult. Many have studied the phenomena of trolling and online bullying and what to do about it.  Residents of the virtual world Second Life call one form of these evil-doers "Griefers." They may try to disrupt and destroy the activities and work of other players in MMORPGs.  One study has suggested that the experience of online bullying is not only common, but may be approaching the norm and is usually not reported to the parent. 
    Of course, antisocial behavior is seen in the real world as well, but it may be suppressed by the demand characteristics of the situation, among most individuals.  These inhibiting conditions do not exist in the virtual world in the experience of many.  No one is watching.  No one is reminding them of what they learned on the playground.
   Every parent today is warned about the danger to their child on the internet.  This usually conjures images of sexual predators, identity theft, and yes, being bullied.  But how much do we know about if our own child is "playing nice?"  Are we?

Cyber-Bullying

This will be my blog for the Teaching Online MOOC