Online Teaching Persona Worksheet
Introduction
The worksheet will lead you to think about communication, teaching style and building an online course that works well. Think through the questions in this handout and make notes on the worksheet. This activity is split into two parts: Self-Evaluation and Personal Reflection. Rather than delivering hard and fast dictates, this exercise is meant to "flex" your thinking and to consider the changes that come with teaching online.
The purpose of this worksheet is to:
- Focus your online teaching persona,
- Contemplate your teaching philosophy,
- Determine how you might apply your philosophy and persona in an online course.
Self-Evaluation
A. Online Teaching Persona Strategies
Check the strategies below that you plan to use to portray your online teaching persona.
| Common Characteristics and Strategies | Notes |
|---|---|
| ____ Effective, concise, explicit writing | |
| ____ Use of humor | |
| ____ Spend long hours online | |
| ____ Provide abundant & timely feedback | |
| ____ Trust | |
| ____ Flexibility | |
| ____ Creativity | |
| ____ Organized online course | |
| ____ Provide redundancy | |
| ____ Authoritative | |
| ____ Other |
B. Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education
Check the tools and strategies you plan to use in your online course.
| Seven Principles for Good Practice | Implementation Ideas |
|---|---|
| What tools do you plan to use to "encourage contact between student(s) and instructor"? |
____ Chat (student - instructor) ____ Chat (student - student) ____ Video Conference (e.g., Skype, Chat, Conferences) ____ Email ____ F2F meeting ____ Online office hours ____ Course announcement ____ Other: |
| How will you "develop student reciprocity and cooperation"? |
____ I will assign team projects ____ I will assign team member's roles ____ In some collaborative activities, students will evaluate each other ____ Students will solve their team conflicts ____ I will solve student conflicts for them ____ Other: |
| How will you "give prompt feedback"? |
I will respond to students' questions within ___24h ___48h ___72h I will communicate with students in the ___AM ___PM ___Varied times I will use: ____Auto-reply for quizzes/tests ____ Grade release after quizzes are graded ____ Embedded comments for research papers ____ Rubrics that provide details about student's work ____ Other: |
| How will you "emphasize time on task"? |
____ Task characteristics and level of complexity will determine time duration ____ My course will go from simple to complex ____ The course goals and objectives will guide activities ____ Other: |
| What "active learning techniques" do you plan to use? |
____ Students will apply knowledge to new settings, situations, or cases ____ Students will connect to real life events ____ Students will connect to personal experiences ____ Students will synthesize new knowledge ____ Students will evaluate new knowledge ____ Students will conduct some type of research ____ Other: |
| How will you "communicate high expectations"? |
____ My course will integrate higher-order thinking skills activities ____ My course will contain clear course expectations ____ My course syllabus will promote academic integrity ____ My course will uphold excellence standards ____ My course will contain goals ____ Other: |
| How will you "respect diverse talents and ways of learning"? |
____ My course will consider different learning styles ____ My course will consider multiple intelligences ____ My course will use multiple assessment tools ____ My course will use lectures ____ My course will use PowerPoint Presentations ____ My course will use audio and/or video ____ My course will use instructional games ____ Other: |
C. Learner- Centered Perspectives
| How do you plan to set direction with intended learning outcomes? |
____ I will clarify course objectives ____ I will set clear course expectations ____ I will develop an explicit syllabus ____ The syllabus will have clear policies ____ The syllabus will have manageable/timely schedule ____ Other: |
| How will you invoke student ownership in learning through choices? |
____ I will provide multiple ways for students to achieve the target outcomes ____ I will allow students to choose what they will do in their learning process ____ I will rely on teaching students to become superior online learners ____ Other: |
| How will you use feedback from students to improve the learning environment? |
____ I will seek continuous feedback ____ I will use multiple strategies to gather feedback. ____ I will use explicit rubrics with clear expectations ____ Other: |
| How will you assess students' ability to think critically? |
____ I will challenge my students to think critically ____ I will set high expectations and outcomes ____ Assessments will seek students' higher-level thinking analysis ____ Other: |
| Will you use portfolios? If so, how will you use portfolios? |
____Yes ____ No ____ To promote, support, and evaluate learning ____ Other: |
| How will you show progress continually through the learning period? |
____ I will provide updates to the grade book ____ I will provide learner progress report ____ Other: |
| How will you promote goal setting and achievement? |
____ I will provide and opportunity for scaffolded learning ____ I will build upon prior learning ____ Students will be guided one step at a time ____ Other: |
D. Teaching Philosophy
Briefly state your teaching philosophy and attach it to this worksheet. Please refer to the Online Teaching Persona Reference Sheet to make sure you integrate the four components of a complete teaching philosophy.
E. Defining Your Online Teaching Persona
- What four words describe your current face-to-face teaching persona?
- Based on the checklist in section A, what four words describe your online teaching persona?
- In four words, what might hinder your persona in the online classroom?
- In four words, what do you plan to do to overcome this hindrance?
F. Getting Started Strategies
Check the strategies that you plan to use to portray your online teaching persona and communicate with students.
| Strategies | Comments | |
|---|---|---|
| How will you make initial contact with your students? |
____ Email before class starts ____ Email on first day of class ____ Course announcement ____ Video introduction ____ Instructor intro page in course ____ Introduction discussion topic ____ Other |
|
| What orientation will you use? |
____ FAQs ____ Orientation quiz ____ Module 0/Getting Started Module ____ Student Tour ____ Other: |
|
| Ho will you communicate course expectations to students? |
____ Syllabus ____ Class discussion ____ Rubrics before each assignment ____ Video ____ Other: |
|
| To prepare students for a major class milestone, paper or exam, what will you do? |
____ Hold a Q&A session ____ Offer an online chat ____ Other: |
|
| How will you communicate and disseminate technology questions, issues and solutions (resources) in your class? |
____ Email ____ Class announcements ____ Technical Help discussion topic ____ Provide resource links in course ____ Syllabus and protocols ____ resources ____ Other: |
Personal Reflection
G. Pull it All Together When You Begin Building Your Course
Let's pull it all together - your online teaching persona, teaching philosophy, and the tools, teaching methods and strategies you will be using in your online course. The following exercise will ask you to synthesize and define your earlier work in this exercise to begin to build your course. The questions will help to clarify your online teaching role and responsibility to ensure a successful online course. This will assist you as you begin to design, develop, and deliver your online course.
- What four words describe your personal teaching persona?
- What four words describe how you will exhibit your teaching persona to your students?
- What four words represent your teaching philosophy?
- Which four words describe the major communication strategies that you plan to utilize?
Next Steps: This worksheet will be useful when you build your syllabus, expectations and instructor/course introduction during the week 2 Build Your Course Activities.
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