In 1993, The New Yorker published a cartoon by Peter Steiner, depicting two dogs, one of whom was sitting at a computer. He was telling his canine buddy, "On the Internet, no body knows you're a dog." As I didn't want to take a risk with copyright infringement, I've got a substitute image handy. You get the gist of it, I hope. (Shout out to Bully lovers!)
His point was that the Internet lent itself to anonymity.
His point was that the Internet lent itself to anonymity.
Anyway, Day Three of the Blogging Challenge found me doing my real-life job of checking online courses to determine their readiness (or not) for the influx of eager learners who would be storming the virtual ramparts on the first day of classes this Thursday. One of the things that I was checking for was an introduction/bio/video/profile by the online instructor, introducing himself or herself to the students that they may never meet in person, but with whom they would be spending the next 16 or 8 weeks. To my chagrin, I had to "ding" quite a few faculty members who didn't take the time to do so. Not good. Anonymity, by the instructor in an ONLINE course, should not be a desireable state!
Why is this important enough for a "big-wig" such as myself, to take my time to check for details like this? No. Seriously. Why am I checking this? This should be a no-brainer for online instructors! All the great gurus of online education tout the benefits of making connections with online students. Taking five minutes to post a quick bio with your hobbies, your education, and a few details about your personal life, along with a picture, will go a long way towards making you more than just a faceless drone who lives in their laptops. And don't give me the excuse that you don't photograph well. Slap a filter on your selfie, and get it up there! You want your students to put a face to a name...you could be a DOG for all they know!
Every semester I get comments from my students telling me how much they enjoy the interactivity in my class...that they know that I'm a real person. Some have even told me that the following picture has "inspired" them to do their homework when they were tired, beat down from work, school, and family, and just felt like blowing off study time. I'm not quite sure whether they take it with the humor with which it is intended, or whether the shear scariness of it intimidates them into doing their assignments. Oh well...whatever works. Woof, woof...
See you on Day Four! ~Julie
Why is this important enough for a "big-wig" such as myself, to take my time to check for details like this? No. Seriously. Why am I checking this? This should be a no-brainer for online instructors! All the great gurus of online education tout the benefits of making connections with online students. Taking five minutes to post a quick bio with your hobbies, your education, and a few details about your personal life, along with a picture, will go a long way towards making you more than just a faceless drone who lives in their laptops. And don't give me the excuse that you don't photograph well. Slap a filter on your selfie, and get it up there! You want your students to put a face to a name...you could be a DOG for all they know!
Every semester I get comments from my students telling me how much they enjoy the interactivity in my class...that they know that I'm a real person. Some have even told me that the following picture has "inspired" them to do their homework when they were tired, beat down from work, school, and family, and just felt like blowing off study time. I'm not quite sure whether they take it with the humor with which it is intended, or whether the shear scariness of it intimidates them into doing their assignments. Oh well...whatever works. Woof, woof...
See you on Day Four! ~Julie
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