{"id":18834,"date":"2016-06-15T10:35:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-15T14:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/edc\/?p=18834"},"modified":"2021-08-13T10:13:12","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T14:13:12","slug":"blog-praise-online-teaching-thoughts-first-millennials-turn-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2016\/blog-praise-online-teaching-thoughts-first-millennials-turn-40\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog: In praise of online teaching \u2013 Thoughts as the first millennials turn 40"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rebecca Bromwich, Instructor, Department of Law and Legal Studies <\/em><\/p>\n

We are riding a generational and technological wave into a new mobile age, and teaching and learning in higher education are along for the ride. I didn\u2019t start off as a tech enthusiast, but recent experiences, and the example of a wonderful friend, have turned me into a proponent of online education. I\u2019ve come to realize that meaningful human connections of the sort that facilitate education can happen online.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m approaching some milestones this year. My 40th birthday is approaching at the end of the summer, and my 15 year law school reunion is coming then too, both of which signal that I\u2019m no longer a young teacher, young lawyer, or young person, by any stretch of the imagination.<\/p>\n

My 40th is a mile-marker for me but it\u2019s also a personal instance of a larger social trend. I\u2019m on the \u201cshoulder<\/a>\u201d, right between Gen-X and the millennials. I\u2019m one drop in a cultural wave. This year, the year I turn 40, is the moment at which the first wave of millennials is turning 40. The \u201cgenerational\u201d literature about different demographics in the workplace is about to become dated. The \u201cyounger\u201d group is coming of age, and the electronic world they live in is becoming mainstream across professional and educational settings.<\/p>\n

It makes a lot of sense that, riding this cultural wave, I have become excited about the potential of online teaching. I\u2019ve been thinking lately about how well travelled my laptop is. It has been to New Orleans, Cancun, Calgary, Banff, Montreal and Toronto, and I\u2019ve only had it a few months. I have to pause and marvel that I often reach students who are in my online class while living in Beijing, Vancouver and Vienna, by sending and receiving emails while in flight.<\/p>\n

For a long time, I have had some cynicism about online teaching. I share popular criticisms<\/a> of online education and worry about how it can be an easy \u201ccash cow\u201d for universities, the ultimate way to cram more \u201cbutts in seats\u201d without having to pay for infrastructure. The first time I taught an online course, at another institution 10 years ago, the technology didn\u2019t support much interaction between students and teachers. I could post slides and send and receive emails and that was it.<\/p>\n

Now, we have live chat and the ability to have online synchronous classroom discussions using BigBlueButton<\/a> and streaming video. Further, western society has shifted a great deal so that through social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, we all have personal and professional connections who we contact regularly but certainly don\u2019t see often, if ever.<\/p>\n

A close friend of mine died a couple of years ago, a few months before she would have turned 40. Her name was Debra Shelly<\/a> and we were law school classmates. We didn\u2019t see each other often, but, mostly online, we had always kept in touch. She was a feminist trailblazer in the comic book community<\/a> and a social media master. Deb had epilepsy, which was what ultimately ended her life, and it sometimes presented a barrier to in-person communication. However, online, Deb was able to function fabulously, and her incisive intellect, lightning wit, and wonderful warmth came through almost magically. When she passed away, her family and friends marveled at the geographic reach of her kindliness and support.<\/p>\n

She had been a friend and mentor to a huge network of people, from soldiers serving in the Middle East, to her fellow law school alumni across Canada, to comic book aficionados across North America and the UK. She is sorely missed by so many of us, hundreds of whom she never met.<\/p>\n

So, yes, I am excited, now, as I turn 40, about the prospects and potential of teaching and learning online. Deb\u2019s incredible example of mentorship around the world shows well how online relationships of mentoring, support and teaching can be very real. So, as I enter my next chapter in teaching and learning, at mid-life, remembering her example, I\u2019m enthusiastically embracing electronic communication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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I didn\u2019t start off as a tech enthusiast, but recent experiences, and the example of a wonderful friend, have turned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[327],"yoast_head":"\nBlog: In praise of online teaching \u2013 Thoughts as the first millennials turn 40 - 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