24.8: Summary

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“The educational value of war stories has been grossly underestimated”. – Schank & Cleary (1995)

Maintain your sanity by keeping the short-term solutions on a small scale. Unless it is based on feedback given before the course, or right after it begins, it is a good idea to wait until after the course is over to institute a major revision. If there is a good reason to make a major change, communicate clearly and often with your students about what is going to happen and how it might affect them.

I hope I have given you a wide array of possibilities that will help you evaluate and improve your online teaching effectiveness. Do not feel like you have to do everything listed in this chapter! Treat this chapter like a buffet that is open all day, every day. You can put as many, or as few, items on your plate as you like. You can always come back for more. You should chat with other instructors at the buffet to see what they liked and did not like. When you sit down at the table with your peers, take a look at what they are doing and tell them about how your own choices worked for you.

If I rename the modified classroom assessment techniques as “online assessment techniques,” then I say “It’s always a good time to sow your OATs!” This is corny, I know, but it leads me to my last bit of advice: Keep your sense of humour. At times, it can be tough to go through the online teaching process, to hear or read student criticism, and to make adjustments to your carefully planned course. If you can laugh at yourself and remember that the students are on your side, then you are on your way to teaching effectively online.