Your Career: How to find joy in online teaching

Despite all the talk and training during the pandemic, asynchronous courses remain painful to take and teach. ADVERTISEMENT [Your Career Logo]( You can also [read this newsletter on the web](. Or, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, [unsubscribe](. Despite all the talk and training during the pandemic, asynchronous courses remain painful to take and teach. Students in asynchronous online courses often report feeling that the instructor doesn’t treat them like a human, isn’t available to them, and doesn’t interact with them (as in, doesn’t grade assignments promptly or return emails). In fact, when surveyed about their worst online courses, students said their number-one complaint was an MIA teacher. For instructors, part of the problem is that what you think of as online teaching is more like task management, tech drudgery, and bureaucratic tedium. It’s nothing like teaching students in person. Further, within departments, teaching online is often undervalued. No one sees how much time and effort the best instructors put into teaching great online classes. Online students have a right to a teacher who shows up to class, connects with them as people, interacts with them in online discussions, trusts them, provides meaningful feedback on assessments, and is generally there to help. Here are some ways to overcome your own sense of online teaching ennui: - Help students to see you as a real person. Consider revealing a bit more about yourself than you now do. For example, many asynchronous courses don’t have a photo of the instructor. How are students supposed to feel like you’re a human being, there to help, if they’ve never seen you? - Record short videos for mini-lectures, announcements, and clarifications. Such videos personalize your course and are especially important when students are confused about a concept or an assignment. Don’t worry about your videos looking polished and professional. Just be yourself, as you are when teaching in person. - Offer optional synchronous office-hour sessions on Zoom. Announce them in advance and consider incentivizing attendance. Consider recording and posting videos of the sessions if you review class material. Continue reading: “[We Still Think Online Teaching Isn’t Real Teaching]( by Flower Darby Share your suggestions for the newsletter with Denise Magner, an editor at The Chronicle, at denise.magner@chronicle.com. If you’d like to opt out, you can log in to our website and [manage your newsletter preferences here](. ADVERTISEMENT SPECIAL OFFER FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for less than $20 and get unlimited access to essential reporting, data, and analysis. And as a special bonus, you'll get the 2024 Trends Report, our annual issue on the major trends shaping higher education — coming in March. 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[Let me know](mailto:denise.magner@chronicle.com?subject=Your Career feedback). - A [report]( in The Wall Street Journal predicts that “performance reviews will bite this year,” and offers advice on how to prepare for tougher criticism. - [Advice]( in the Harvard Business Review on good ways to respond to “situational” questions during a job interview. - In The Atlantic, a look at how employers can [make retiring “more humane”]( that “the heyday of the pension is behind us.” MORE CAREER RESOURCES [Why Strategy Efforts Fail in Higher Education — and How to Make Them Succeed]( [STORY IMAGE]( UPCOMING: March 7, 2024 | 2 p.m. ET. How can higher ed avoid the Top 5 common pitfalls of strategic planning? Join us for a virtual forum to uncover research-backed strategies for success. With Support From Watermark. [Register here.]( [Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Jobs]( [STORY IMAGE]( UPCOMING: March 6, 2024 | 2 p.m. ET. 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