Becoming an Effective Online Teacher

Much of the global success of online learning can be attributed to the merits of Learning Management systems (LMS), also known as  learning platforms and virtual learning environments (Paulsen and Keegan, 2002). What an academic can do, how he/she can organize the course, all the capabilities are determined by the functionality of the Learning Management System. Offering access to learning materials and integration of the digital content are quite standard across the LMS.  Brandon-hall.com defines an LMS as a: "software that automates the administration of training events. An LMS registers users, tracks courses in a catalogue, and records data from learners; it also provides reports to management. An LMS is typically designed to handle courses by multiple publishers and multiple providers." Meanwhile, synchronous and asynchronous student-to-student and teacher-to-student interactivity, assessment mechanisms, tracking services, ability to integrate other, external tools - ...

  My personal journey in designing an online course started in July 2020 with the need to prepare an online Orientation programme for the September 2020 intake of new students. Roughly 1,000 new students to join the University's Level 3 Foundation course. To understand the scope of the challenge you would have to have an understanding of the environment and my background.  On the positive side, I am a Gen Xer. I am one of the members of faculty keen to use innovative tools in the classroom to enhance the learning experience and engagement of students. Regular participant of the T&L Symposium with the primary aim of gaining insights into the latest advancements and discoveries of my colleagues and sharing my own. Kahoot!, Padlet, Moodle - yes of course! I am keen to learn and am comfortable with a lot of the online learning tools. Have I used the LMS to its fullest? Yes. As much as Intranet, our in-house developed LMS, could offer. Zoom? Yes. Have I run a fully online cours...

22 years ago I opened my first e-mail account. There were no search engines that I knew of at the time. Yahoo! and Hotmail were the two most popular e-mail services, which did not have search engines yet.  About two years later I saw the first Webster online course ad. Kentnor (2015) notes that online courses started appearing in the United States in early 1990s, but saw rapid growth in the late years of the decade. By 2002, over 1.6 million students were enrolled in online tertiary courses, and another 6 years later the numbers nearly tripled (Allen & Seaman, 2008 cited in Kentnor, 2015). As a prospective university student at the time, quite keen on doing an undergraduate degree in the US, I remember being very skeptical about it. To be fair an online degree was very different then. It was more like distance education, a degree by correspondence. The effectiveness of online degrees was questioned by employers (Columbaro and Monaghan, 2009).  Nearly two dec...

  Hello, dear guest! Welcome to my blog! My name is Gulnaz Bektemirova. I am the Director of Student Support Services at Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT). I am very passionate about supporting students in their educational journeys and making the most out of their university experience. The unification and integration of Student Support Services at WIUT under one umbrella, the launch of new services, such as academic support centre, inclusion and diversity support, international student and study abroad support, accommodation and residential services – were all the result of this passion. Prior to coming to lead Student Support Services in 2018, I had worked as a Lecturer. Focused on enhancing students’ learning experience, I taught and served in various administrative positions, including the posts of the Deputy Dean on Learning Environment and the Course Leader of the Certificate of International Foundation Studies (CIFS). In all of these jobs, I oversaw th...