I decided to blog everyday to share the perspective of an instructor running an online course for the first time. So here goes.
Before this all started I was nervous and full of apprehension. What if no one signed up? What if people signed up and they were not happy with what I had to offer? I kept promoting through every avenue. Then on Sunday I had a few people sign up from all over the world. I reached my goal and I exceeded my goal! I was happy.
I had been filming videos all week and getting everything ready. On Sunday When I finished my last video I realized that I may have been a little ambitious with my schedule. I realized that people were busy and might even have to squeeze this into an already busy day. After all I had modified a schedule that was intended to be done in person over the course of two days.
I was worried for a minute then I realized that I was in charge and that the schedule was not set in stone. I reminded myself that this was my gift to the world in a difficult time and that everyone who signed up deserved my kindness and understanding. I resolved to make changes as needed and post little video updates everyday. I recorded my first video.
On Monday I checked the site repeatedly for assignments; nothing much happened. At 1pm I had a call on a personal matter scheduled. 20 minutes before 1pm I walked out of my room to see a large fire in the distance. To make a long story short I ended up with an asthma attack and unable to do my final preparations. I carefully went through my action plan and stuck it out for my 5 pm call.
The call had been a source of stress all day. In the end I decided to start a Zoom call and transition to another platform if I needed. One person was on time and after a few minutes we started. We had a nice chat and one more person came in. I was happy with the outcome given the circumstances.
I hung up and crawled into bed. I checked Facebook one more time to find messages from my students who had missed the call. I made modifications to the schedule and decided to make all assignments due at the end of the program to allow people time to complete them. I looked for the recording of the call but realized that since I have a Chromebook and not a Mac or PC the call was not recorded. I also thought that it might be nice to make little videos about each of the readings.
I was happy. The first day was hard but I think I made a difference. Check back tomorrow to find out what platform I end up using for the live call. I am thinking about doing this again soon. If you missed out on this sessions and would like to participate in the training let me know and I will add you to the waiting list.
