Okay, still cleaning up my Bloglines account with this topic. I should also note that one of the participants in our AECT BlogTrack has her focus upon teaching online in the post-secondary environment (see Ernise Singleton - Higher Education).
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I write for an audience of one and anybody else is gravy.

But it’s good to see you here.

It’s the same way I feel about my NECC 2006 Tapped In Workshop. Little enrollment, little interest. Teachers don’t want to leave their comfort zone, and certainly don’t want to take the energy to go way beyond what they currently do either online or offline.

We repeat patterns. We’re brought up one way (pretty much in direct instruction classrooms) and then as teachers are ironically “trained” as to the benefits of constructivism, collaboration, etc. Then we get jobs in schools and it’s back to square one, isn’t it?

How many educators are decent curriculum designers? I’d venture a liberal guess of 10%. And yet, all educators are expected to lesson plan. Why? Because that’s how it’s been done for years. Do they learn how to build collaborative lessons in credential college? Actually, Mary Thompson and others at the University of Houston (they hold classes at Tapped In) are quite progressive with this. I would be interested to see though how many of the students are able to carry forth their collaborative goals into the classroom the next year.

If you want to teach your course online, then teach your course online. Forget about the university you’re at. Do it at Tapped In, or Nicenet or set up your own Moodle along with other tools such as Skype, Thinkfree, etc… whatever it takes. You know it’s not going to happen at your school so why perservere there? Put it online and charge $10 a head. Post to DEOS, WWWEDU, and a dozen other educational listservs. Just be sure to apologize for the cross-posting in advance!

Regards,

Jeff

P.S. Doesn’t it bother you when you post all your great words of wisdom in your blog and no one replies tothem?

Oh… except for some sarcastic jerk like me.