Tech Tuesday: We Heart Online Teaching

We love teaching, and we love technology, but teaching and technology don’t always work together. So why do the Pixeladies bother teaching online? It’s convenient–for both the student and the teacher. We have students from all over the world, and we don’t have to be up 24 hours a day. We post our class materials, and students can view them whenever they like. In pajamas, even.

From Deb:
There is one thing I really miss, though. I miss seeing the students’ eyes. You can actually see light bulbs turn on, but you can also see blank stares when you just haven’t explained it right. And I can’t walk up and look at their monitors and see what they are doing. You know what I mean. “It’s not working!” she cries. So I go over to her and ask her to show me what she’s trying to do. And it works perfectly . . . as long as I’m standing there.
Teaching online is kind of like doing a puzzle. You have to try to figure out what the student did differently than instructed. Is it user error or some glitch in the program, computer, or internet? I have to ask lots of clarifying questions–many that have nothing to do with Photoshop. PC or Mac? If you restart Photoshop does the problem go away? Do you have your Caps Lock key on? Are you standing on your head while clicking the mouse?
But teaching is fun for me. Of course I’d rather teach in person. But I’m “meeting” lots of talented, fun people from all over the world. So are the students. And isn’t that part of learning?

From Kris:
My favorite part about teaching online is that we can have a lot more students in a class than we could if we taught in person. And as Deb said, it’s students from all around the world. The community we create online is truly unique. The way we get our students connected is through Moodle. Moodle is an open-source learning platform that you can modify to your own needs. For example, we have the grading system turned off. (Whew!) The class has a weekly schedule that we can set up ahead of time and release when the time comes. As a control freak, I love that part of the program. We can also check to make sure everyone is accessing the site and not falling behind. Click here if you teach online and would like to read more about Moodle. We highly recommend it. We hope you can join us for a class soon. Click here for more information.