Part+3+-+Similarities+&+Differences

=Similarities and Differences between online and face-to-face teaching. =

The advantages of an online class include being able to teach, grade, and give feedback at any time and from any place with internet access. Despite the fact that my online course seems to take more hours of my time, the ability to "fit it in" to my lifestyle is an enormous advantage to me. My family has gone through some heartbreaking times in the last few months and I feel like I have been able to keep up with my online course in such a way that they probably have no idea what we've been going through. My face-to-face class has had to have substitutes with poorly put together plans several times when I was unable to be there. While I was there I received emails, phones calls, and texts that upset me and I was not very focused. Because I am a very expressive person there was no way to "hide" that from the students.
 * What do you think are the main advantages and disadvantages of teaching in each environment?**

Over the last few months, while taking part in these Best Practices courses, I have gleaned many other advantages and disadvantages of each of the environments.

Advantages of online classes include:
 * access from any where at any time
 * students must take responsibility for their learning
 * students can reread the directions multiple times to make sure they understand the expectations
 * all of the resources are centralized within the course
 * students can search for a comment they may have overlooked the first time

Advantages of face-to-face classes include:
 * facial expressions and body language can create a closer relationship
 * immediate (or close to it) feedback for a question or concern
 * seeing the student in other areas - an athletic event, going to one of their plays, or even in the community

Disadvantages of online classes include:
 * the reliance on technology which sometimes can fail
 * lack of actually seeing the teacher and classmates
 * having to stop working on an assignment until the teacher can answer your question

Disadvantages of face-to-face classes include:
 * too many distractions, from classmates to things going on in the hall
 * crowded classrooms that don't have technological resources
 * students may misunderstand directions and go on in the wrong direction

In my face-to-face class I use body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice to help convey my thoughts. Obviously that doesn't work in an online class but I do try to let my personality shine through the written text by using emoticons, or saying that I'm kidding in parentheses. Once the students get to know me a little more, both in my face-to-face class and my online class, they will respond using humor too.
 * What are the differences and similarities of teaching in each environment? Compare online and offline classroom techniques.**

One technique that I use both in my online and offline classrooms is to find portions of movies or videos that help illustrate a point or show a particular type of behavior. By converting them at home I can bring them into my f2f classroom or upload to my online class. Just this week my online students were discussing which one of the visual illusions I uploaded they thought was the most unusual. Both my online and offline classes love the illusions from [|Bill Nye the Science Guy]

My online class is much better suited for discussions. I think the online forums allow all of the students an equal chance in getting their thoughts heard. I have begun to use discussion forums with my face-to-face classes. It is difficult due to access problem we have both in our school and with our students' ability to access the internet at home but I have found that students that do not usually speak up in a discussion in the face-to-face class will contribute in an online forum.

Following is from a discussion forum I created in Moodle. This worked very well with my online AP Psychology class. I took them to the library and explained the assignment but they completed it on their own time. I was able to do this because all of my AP students have access at home.



The Human Genome Project raises several social and ethical issues for humans. The following web pages explain the goals of the project as well as the issues associated with it. @http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml @http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/elsi/elsi.html Read through the lists and choose one of the issues. Briefly define it and compose an answer (by clicking the "Add a new question" button) to the questions posed on the web page for that issue. Then answer the following questions:


 * 1) Do you think these issues should have been serious enough for us to stop the research on the project? Why or why not?
 * 2) How do you think we should manage the information that is available as a result of the Human Genome Project?

After answering the questions feel free to tell us about anything else that struck you as interesting or that you questioned.

After you've posted your thoughts read your classmate's postings and respond to two of them.

The most important part of my pedagogy is to help students develop at first an interest in the subject and then later a connection between what they are studying and their lives. Depending on the topic this interest may be easy to capture. Many of the topics that we study in psychology are intrinsically interesting to adolescents. How does our personality play a role in how we learn? What does our state of mind have to do with what we remember from the past? These questions are easily asked in both an online and face-to-face environment.
 * What is the most important part of your pedagogy? How does this play out in an online environment?**


 * Can online delivery improve the quality of teaching?**

I think it can, but that does not mean that it is better. After teaching an online class for three semesters I feel that I have been able to transfer what I’ve learned into my face-to-face classroom. This week in particular I have learned so much about feedback.


 * Can online delivery improve the access to teachers?**

Yes. My online students know that I check four or five times a day and they can ask questions about assignments and grades. Some students need more reassurance than others and the ability to ask a question and know that you will get an answer in a few hours can help make them feel more comfortable as they work through their assignments. My face-to-face student also have my email address and I will get notes from them if they are home sick or if they have questions about assignments. This points out the disadvantage of not having internet/computer access at home. Some students have to wait until they get back to school to get their answers.


 * Select artifacts that represent difference and similarities, advantages and disadvantages.**

=**Biology of the Brain Project** =

**Similarities**
Click on the image below to go to my psychology wikispaces. This is a project that came with my VHS Introduction to Psychology course. This year the other teacher and I decided to allow students to pick topics rather than assign them randomly. I will also be using this for the first time in my face-to-face class. This project is a good example of an assignment that will work in both venues. Conversely, some projects that I do with my students in my face-to-face course have found their way into my online course.

media type="file" key="BabysitterExample.mov" width="300" height="300"

Rubric for project: [|Baby-Sitter Asst 09.pdf] Examples: [|babysitter1.ppt] [|babysitter2.pptx]

**Differences**
One of the biggest differences between my online classes and my face-to-face classes is the amount and type of interaction between myself and my students and peer interactions among my students.

Clicking on the image below will take you to a group project that I do in my online class. While it would probably work in a face-to-face class with access to computers and the internet I think the discussions are much more involved and interesting because the students can only make their point through the written word. Gestures, facial expressions, and other types of observable behaviors are not a part of the online environment. While sometimes that can be seen as a deterrent, in this case I think it helps spur discussion.