On Sunday the 16th, we’ll be joined by Mike for his long-awaited workshop on beliefs about online learning. With so many teachers thrown into online teaching in the past year, it is worth taking time to reflect on what we believe about it.
Mike, alongside being Editor-in-Chief here at the ‘Shop, is an online and offline teacher, teacher trainer and consultant. He has been teaching since the year 2000 and training teachers since 2009, including on the New School MATESOL program. He blogs at ELT Rants, Reviews and Reflections.
Here’s Mike’s abstract for the session:
“Online classes must be synchronous” and “Students must show their faces at all times during online classes.” These are just two of the beliefs circulating (perhaps uncritically) in the current discourse in ELT worldwide about online teaching. Back in the previous century, in 1999, Kathleen Graves wrote, “Most teachers don’t have opportunities to make their beliefs explicit because the institutions in which they work do not generally ask them to articulate their beliefs nor do they place a value on such articulation.” This might be even more true in the current era and an aim of this session is to carve out a time and place for such articulations, in this case related to online teaching.
Through considering and discussing a range of statements about online teaching and learning participants will have a chance to make their beliefs explicit and in doing so gain a deeper understanding of their own (perhaps unconscious) thinking about online teaching. By encountering and examining statements of belief topics such as homework, motivation, synchronous vs. asynchronous classes, rapport, teacher presence, grading, and teacher well-being participants will be able to uncover their own beliefs on these issues. Participants can expect to walk away with a clearer sense of their own beliefs along with some questions to consider about their beliefs in relation to online teaching practices.
The session will be starting at 1pm UTC. You can check what time that will be in your local time zone here. The session is free and easy to join: sign up for our mailing list below and we’ll send you an invite link to the session one day and one hour before it starts.