Alexa Williams

The five learner profiles that will be distracting are:  Noisy, quiet, disruptive, intimidating, and procrastinators.  

I learned to make sure you have narrow topics for asynchronous discussions to prevent the discussion from rambling in too many directions.  It is your job to keep discussions focused, directed, and on topic by designing good questions, providing guidelines for students to use when composing their responses and providing discussion summaries. 

The importance of being mentally prepared to teach an online course as online instructors must know how to influence, persuade, inspire, and energize their students just like in a classroom setting is something that stood out to me.  

There's a lot involved and a lot to an online course.  One quote from the reading stood out to me regarding being a successful online instructor: "your ability to manage the learning environment and each learner's learning experiences, and to provide informative and constructive feedback in a timely manner, is of prime importance to your success".

Prepare, practice, and be flexible.  Teach in "chunks" and change teaching styles to reach different learning styles. 

Learn names (and pronounce them correctly) ASAP.  Show students that you care about their learning and provide a sense of belonging and ability to succeed in class.

Prepare, prepare, prepare!  Create and use checklists, have a detailed syllabus. 

I learned that it's really important to know who you are and know your strengths and where you want/need to improve/develop professionally.