Joe Sanderson has been a physics professor at the University of Waterloo for a little over 16 years. He describes his initial transition to online teaching as an interesting exercise into what good learning experiences look like, and as an opportunity for personal learning and growth.
What Joe enjoys most about developing his online courses is having the opportunity to think about what the best pedagogical approaches are, what challenges he might face using an online platform, and having the opportunity to get input from his Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) team.
Joe also likes the flexibility of online learning. He can drop-in regularly to check in with students and see how they’re doing. The flexibility of the online format is also beneficial for students, who can revisit content whenever, and wherever, it's convenient for them. This includes being able to re-play lectures, something that can’t be done in face-to-face classes.
To show his students that he’s actively engaged in their learning, Joe promptly responds to discussion posts, asks follow-up questions, and regularly posts news items in the announcements section of the course home page. He also adds a unique personal element to his online physics courses by including demonstration videos, in which he acts out key concepts with objects and body movement. These videos provide an engaging add-on to his online lectures, and help foster a connection with his students.
In addition to demonstration videos, Joe adds some fun to his online lectures to motivate his students. He aims to make the course look visually pleasing, incorporates relevant graphics, and tries to minimize the amount of narration that’s included over his animated lecture slides. Joe points out that a lot of the learning in his classes actually occurs through student interactions. To foster communication between students, he tries to reproduce the key elements of peer instruction, such as response questions, group work, and discussions.
Overall, Joe’s perspective of online teaching is extremely positive. What advice does he have for instructors who are thinking of teaching their first online course? It’s simple: “do it, as it’s a great opportunity to look at your course and develop new pedagogical aspects”. Instructors who are new to online teaching, adds Joe, need to be prepared for the amount of time that goes into designing and developing an online course. Creating an online course is certainly time consuming, but it’s worth it.