I began my teaching career in a traditional bricks-and-mortar setting, and when the opportunity presented itself to me to teach in an online environment at Nevada Connections Academy, I practically beat down the principal’s door in order to get a chance to try something new. For me, online learning presented a highly challenging type of academic environment—one that changed much of what we traditionally know about learning—and shouted, “Let’s try something new!” I love a new learning curve, and this was so far removed from my teaching comfort zone that the brand-new excitement of an innovative challenge to teaching and learning was almost overwhelming. There is so much about online education that is new and demanding—and that excitement is still very much a part of what I do every day. While students of all ages are learning new information and using new skills to demonstrate their intellectual advancements, many of us are simultaneously unlearning old habits and ways of thinking about school.
Instead of having students right in front of me, hearing overlapping conversations and seeing laughter or serious thought evident on many faces, I make phone calls, and I develop relationships over the phone, through WebMail, and during LiveLesson® online classroom sessions. Do I eventually “see” and experience my students’ personalities? Absolutely! While ours is an environment where every stakeholder is invested in a diverse way, there are more robust relationships and there is a significant amount of quality time invested in our students, which reveals so much more of who we are and what we care about.
As technology has changed the face of the planet in the last thirty years, we will change how the world learns and thinks and relates in decades to come. While we challenge old ideas about how learning works and what its end product looks like, we are also leading ourselves and others into the new and exhilarating field that is online education.