Blog posts

Nathan had five different concepts to keep in mind while working with the SME or any ID project. <br><br><em>Fluidity trumps rigidity </em>(go with the flow, don't follow process without variation)<br><br><em>Pragmatism trumps idealism</em> (sometimes you need to tone done expectations to be able to grasp what the client really wants.)<br><br><em>Progress trumps perfection</em> (sometimes need to get project done rather than get everything "right")<br><br><em>Practicality trumps theory</em> (set high standards but be willing short cut if necessary)<br><br><em>Mentoring trumps correcting</em> (make sure you focus on the mentoring aspects and the growth aspects rather than "red inking" all the SME is doing)

As it turned out, this was one of the best courses, online or onsite, I have ever taught. Not only did I witness enormous engagement among almost all of the students, but the level of learning was much higher than in previous years.

The feedback from the students on the course was very positive, better than I had received for the onsite course in previous years. One of my favorite written student comments was, "… I don't know how this course could be taught as effectively in the classroom."

And so, the challenge is that when I try to divest myself of my teacherly voice I need to remember that this process is not about losing the voice of the expert but about losing the voice of the traditional authoritarian teacher who enters the classroom as an official persona armed with a pre-defined set of goals and very specific lesson plans for his students to follow. It is about giving the students the freedom to engage with ideas that they find relevant and interesting, not about dictating every step of their learning process.

I believe that it is important to lose the authoritarian voice, the controlling voice, but not the voice of an expert who chose to teach because of his passion for the subject. The students need to see that the instructor is someone who lives and breathes whatever it is that they’re studying, that they have in their midst someone who has a wealth of expertise.

Online spaces are blurring, as universities that podcast and text their students have shown. The Jisc project manager, Lawrie Phipps, explains how the battle lines are being drawn: "Students really do want to keep their lives separate. They don't want to be always available to their lecturers or bombarded with academic information."