WASCD Blog 3

After reading the 51 Competencies for the Online Instructor and completing the self-evaluations, here are my strengths and weaknesses.

MyStrengths:

1. I am well-organized, thoughtful, creative individual.  I create to-do lists and complete things ahead of schedule.  I can create a syllabus and a good rubric.  I like to know what I need to do in order to learn at my best.  I would be able to do the same for my students as an online instructor.  I am also good encouraging high-quality work and giving prompt feedback, i.e. grading in a timely manner with an appropraite rubric.
2. I am a life-long learner.  I love learning new things and going through the learning curve/process--hence the reason for taking this class.  :-)
3. I enjoy reinventing parts of myself with reflection.  Reflection has made me a more effective instructor and a better person.

My Weaknesses:

1. I do expect things to work, especially after I've pretested them.  How many times have any of you had everything ready to go for class, technologically speaking, and it's a bust?!?!  The server is down, the Internet is slow (as I type this on Cyper Monday), the computer locks up!  Am I frustrated--YES!  I would have a backup plan (that's the planner in me)--but it wouldn't be as good as the original.  I would definitely use humor (Murphy's Law, anyone?), but I would have to better learn how to tame this beast of frustration!
2. Keeping up/informed with the latest technological trends is increasingly more difficult with each year I'm teaching.  As soon as I feel comfortable with one program, poof!--a new and improved DIFFERENT one is out there.  Yes, I let the students show me, but what I really need is the time to learn it on my own.

Bottom line:  I believe this is a definite educational trend, especially in the wake of all the virtual schools coming into existence in the last half decade.  My greatest fear is that I won't be equipped with the resources/equipment required, i.e. those components where I have the least amount of control.