Many people ask me what I do at Hannibal-LaGrange University. When I tell them that I am the director of the adult and graduate division, many of their eyes glaze over. Then the next question comes, “You mean you teach online?” My answer is yes. Then I get these questions, “How can you really teach online?” or “No one can really learn online,” or “I tried a tutorial online, and it was not like learning at all.”
All of the above responses do make me cringe, but I know many people have not had the opportunity to learn online. It is different to learn, and it is different to teach online. So how can I explain learning online…
Learning online has a lot of the same premise as learning in a classroom. There is a teacher and there are students to interact with in the course. All courses have content to cover, but this is where online and in the classroom separate.
In an online classroom, you have requirements for your course. Most of the requirements must be completed by the end of the week. So the online student can complete the work around their schedule. It’s great if you have a job, family, or other commitments for your time! This does not make the material easier, but it makes it more adult-friendly!
Also in the online classroom, the students and the teacher get to know each other better because they are always communicating with each other. In our online classes, students participate in discussion boards that everyone must post to and reply to others in the course too. In a classroom setting, students can sit and say nothing. There is no way for that to happen in the online class. I can’t count how many times I have been in a class where we knew we weren’t supposed to talk or ask questions if we wanted to get out of the class early. This simply is not an issue with online courses. The coursework is set from the beginning of the course.
Also with an online course, I know exactly what I need to do for all of my assignments because every rubric for assignments is available from the beginning. As a person who does not like curve balls in a class, this makes online learning so much easier for me. I like knowing what I am supposed to do in a class to get an A. Online learning makes it sooooo much easier for me to know what is expected as a student!
So if this type of learning makes sense to you, please contact me! I would love to help you on your journey to being an online learner!
Jill Arnold, EdD.
Hannibal-LaGrange University
Director of the Adult & Graduate Studies Division
573-629-3103