After 44 years teaching in Higher Education, of which the past 14 have been in delivering quality online instruction I would consider myself an expert in what does and doesn’t work in the classroom. Since this article is focused on online instruction using current technology I will focus on online instruction.

My world into online instruction started out as ‘trial and error’ as I attempted to move all the business classes at my home university into an online environment using a two-year window to accomplish this task. The platform program then used by the university was WebCT (with no supportive technology) so I proceeded to teach this program to myself. I struggled the first year just writing curriculum and syllabi for online business courses.  As I started to implement these courses slowly on the online platform the university switched to a Blackboard environment in 2005. Now the courses first established for WebCT  had to be converted into Blackboard.  Originally I set the courses up with the use of current events, cases, and projects. This worked okay for several years but I never felt like I knew the students or vice versa.  Again my home university switched delivery platforms in 2007 to Web Study, in 2008 to Angel,and lastly in 2010 to the Canvas delivery platform.

Through the transition of using various delivery platforms my online classes were becoming more ‘learner friendly’ and I more accomplished in the online delivery. Currently with NMC I am using the Moodle delivery system for online classes.

How do I make my classes so interactive for the students? I use an online chat room for my virtual office hours on a regular basis as part of the course. Here at NMC I use Blackboard Collaborate for my online chat room. 

It provides the student with the following:

• A friendly and safe environment in which to ask questions or share their opinions on a class subject.
• Immediate feedback for students. Research shows that students participating in online courses where chat is used effectively on a consistent basis often identify frequency and quality of feedback as a major benefit.
• The chats can generate ideas which may not arise during a classroom discussion.
• The virtual nature of chat rooms encourages students to get connected not only with their instructor but also with their peers.
• Students are more inclined to participate since the context is less formal.
• Many students are already familiar with chat using it for their own recreational purposes so moving into chats in a Internet classroom environment is relatively easy for them.
• Even though students tend not to recognize this medium as producing “real writing” I use it as an opportunity to emphasize what “real writing is” and why it’s viewed as more valid than informal writing.
• And, lastly when students are successful in chatting in the chat room it boosts their confidence as they garner a feeling of accomplishment.

And, how do I make chats successful:

• I make chats an important part of the learning process by my consistent availability to the students each Sunday evening from 8-9 p.m.
• I humanize the chats by commenting to students about items they shared about themselves in their required class introductions.
• I use the Socratic teaching method whereby I pose leading questions/statements to which students engage each other in inductive reasoning.
• I mentally adjust myself to think in this chat environment. I am a facilitator of specific content rather than a “deliverer” of content.
• I keep an open mind and remain flexible in the chats so  I am prepared to adjust, adapt, and modify the questions and/or issues to be raised based on the flow of student responses.
• Chats provide me, the instructor, the opportunity to make immediate and private, if necessary, corrections to a student’s comprehension of an issue.
• I use the chats as virtual office hours, during which I am  available to chat with any student who may have questions.
• And, because the chat takes place on the Internet, there are no phone charges to worry about!