STOL I broadened my awareness. I now have an idea about how I would go about providing a nurturing environment in an online class and how to foster active student participation and interaction.

One of the strongest benefits of taking this class is the network of people and online resources that have become available to me within the class.

One part of the course that helped me the most was looking at the various online instructional strategies. These helped open my eyes to all the needs of our students today. Even though I have co-written some of the classes I teach online, I can see changes needed. More emphasis for challenging discussion needs to be added as well as putting the students into “discussion groups” to make sure that they are getting the assignments completed and that there is some substance to the discussion, not just answering a question.

I have new energy and skills to enhance and refine my instructional strategies as
I continue to be a pioneer in the distance learning opportunities for the students of Iowa. I took some new steps and grew immensely during STOL I and the students will benefit as a result.

I greatly enjoyed taking STOL I.  I have got to experience what it is like to be in an entirely online class.…Group work, synchronous discussion, and asynchronous activities all contributed to my learning.

I particularly enjoyed the interactive nature of this course.  Having to listen to my fellow students, not look at them, opened up a whole new world for my learning style.  In the past, I have always relied heavily on my own reading and learning, not paying much attention to in-class discussions.  This course demanded attention, discussion, and collaboration.

Wearing the facilitator hat forced me to focus and to think on my feet responding to the different responses of other members of the team and to try to keep the discussion going.  I liked the fact that, in a synchronous session, the learning was cooperative.

Part of being a good teacher comes from the life-long process of learning how to become a better student…You have given me a sturdy set of beginner’s tools to use as I plan to expand my classroom beyond concrete walls to include online enrichment escapes for my students.

After taking STOL I, I definitely feel more familiar with the world of online learning, its assets, and how the strategies meld with today’s learner and world.  One often hears that we are preparing students today for jobs that don’t yet exist.  Online learning lends itself to the creativity and skills that will be essential.

The course has given me a realistic, as well as helpful, orientation to online learning. I have seen that teaching online can be an even more complex organizational undertaking than teaching face-to-face. I have discovered strategies, contacts, and resources that didn’t exist for me just a few weeks ago. I feel reenergized about making a commitment to help intermediate students acquire the skills that will be necessary for life and employment in the 21st century.

STOL I has opened my eyes to new concepts and my ability to teach a face-to-face class with the use of technology. I have lost inhibitions toward working with the computer for more than just word processing. I am now planning units around technology to better engage the students. Will losing my inhibitions help better these students to become 21st Century Learners? If so, then this class has definitely been a success.

My original belief was that online instructional strategies amounted to completing a worksheet or a simple task online.  I have been enlightened by what this class had to offer…Students needs are met through student-to-student engagement and collaboration, teacher contact, and use of the 21st Century Skills that they [students] want so badly to use.

I found that teacher support was vital for me during this course.  It made me realize how important it will be for me to anticipate that when I design lessons for my own students.  This course has been time well spent not only for myself as an instructor but also for me as a student.

This course provided me with ideas to implement when I meet with our instructors, mainly when it comes to teacher presence and the teacher’s role as facilitator of information rather than a lecturer.

STOL I has broadened my awareness of online instructional strategies. I believe I will be a better online teacher and a more skilled course designer.

I will always be thinking in the back of my mind about ways in which my lessons may be online learning (OLL) compatible. How I might be able to incorporate OLL indirectly as well as directly in my instruction. And I think I will try to include more collaboration than I have in the past.

STOL I has helped me broaden my ideas on how to reach my students.

Both my mental and educator skill ‘tool boxes’ gained during the last four weeks….The exposure to all of the fresh and new ideas from the readings, assignments, as well as my colleagues helped deepen my understanding of the possibility for great things in my classroom.

Before taking this course, I had a vague idea of what online instructional strategies entail, but nothing like what I know now after completing the STOL I course.  By being able to be a student and not a teacher, I experienced first hand what instructional strategies work well for online learning.

I was surprised to see how much interaction there was between my peers and the instructor.  It was such an enriching experience that the time spent on our exchanges just flew.