More from Insider Higher Ed article about teaching online

This article is good enough that it gets two posts from me!

Career Advice: Take a Walk on the Wired Side - Inside Higher Ed

Don’t believe anyone who tells you that online teaching is easy once you get your course “set.” First of all, it will take you awhile to master the vicissitudes of whatever Web-based program your school uses. I’ve used four now and their logics are about as interchangeable as AC adaptors. Second, expect to spend more time preparing for an online course. You can’t “massage” anything online; every word you post must be clear, every assignment must be self-explanatory, and each learning module must be 100 percent self-contained. You don’t have the luxury of the routine self-adjustments that you can do in the classroom. You will also spend more time doing gate-keeping tasks such as checking to see who hasn’t logged in for awhile, contacting wayward students, and redirecting discussions. In addition you’ll burn more hours grading as students won’t be around to discuss their evaluations; hence your written feedback will be more extensive.

If you decide to give online teaching a try, here are some suggestions:

* Discuss pay upfront.
* Own what you post.
* Be careful of copyright law.
* Make sure your assignments are doable.
* Don’t plan on synchronous learning.
* Limit text-heavy lectures.
* Be very active in discussion.
* Set guidelines on posting.
* Have a plan to deal with inappropriate postings.