why is online teaching important?

Running Head: The Importance of Online Teaching: My Personal Journey

Written by Prof. Jonathan Acua

The Importance of Online Teaching: My Personal Journey

Why is Online Teaching Important to me? and What are the benefits?

By Prof. Jonathan Acua Solano

Friday, July 10, 2015 Twitter: @jonacuso

Post 182

When confronted with the question, Why is online teaching important to me?, I

must admit that the answer is linked to the summative assessment used at the university

where I currently work. Rigid evaluation is one of those things that my teaching

experience tells me that it is wrong, especially when in the equation surface and deep

learning are involved. The hybrid courses that I currently have at Universidad Latina in

Costa Rica have helped me better visualize the importance online or blended learning has

for me to assist pupils in the construction of their knowledge and for them to evidence

the fact that learning can be deep and long-lasting.

Back in the first quarter of 2010 and after being a student for the Webskills course

through the Distant Learning program held by the University of Oregon, I started toying

with the idea of virtualizing some of the courses I was teaching at Universidad Latina at

that time, something I managed to do empirically. My empiricism gave me some first-

hand knowledge and foundation to begin with some sort of blended learning with my

language performers. Not only did I start using blogs to take my whole teaching online,

something that took me a couple of years, but also I ended up creating an LMS for my


reading skills students, where we were able to share and publish their projects and

reading accomplishments.

Later on, in 2013 I got the chance to participate in the Laureate Faculty

Development where I was given the opportunity to get enrolled in an associate degree in

Hybrid, Online and Blended Learning. It was until that time that my online teaching

empiricism became the ground foundations for my studies with online practices through

Laureate International Universities, the international consortium that owns the university

where I teach ELT and owners of the Laureate Faculty Development. The training I was

provided, my former empirical knowledge, and the projects that were needed and carried

out in real virtual classrooms allowed me to transition from the F2F classroom to the

online classroom in platforms such as Moodle and Blackboard.

During the 7 modules I went through along 2013 and 2014, I was able to put the

pieces together to start some real blended learning experiences for my students at that

time at Universidad Latina and, consequently, move away from the rigid assessment used

in my F2F courses. I was then trained how to more effectively use the LMS, which should

be called a CMS instead, that the university uses, Moodle. But I was also provided with

training in Blackboard to round up my understanding of LMSs. Learner engagement and

feedback were part of another module that allowed me to keep up with the work my

language trainees had to do in Moodle. Instructional design was also a must in the

program to be able to convert F2F activities into blended or fully online ones that students

could do at their own pace. The online practicum was a nice way to try out everything

one has been trained on and see how ones learners reacted to our guidance, social

presence, and their cognitive interaction with the subject-matter to be studied. It was a

blast!

Though I had started my online teaching journey with a sole intention to use that

knowledge with my university courses, I found myself accepting a different position in

the curricular development unit for the binational center where I also work and launching


an EFL blended program. This was my chance to get to practice my ideas regarding online

learning and the knowledge I had constructed along my 7-module training in hybrid,

online and blended learning. The EFL program has proven to be successful so far, and in

my home country, we have the only true blended language program across Costa Rica.

Though the binational centers blended EFL program is on its way, my online

teaching nowadays does not end there. Laureate Faculty Development hired me as an

online instructor for their platform associate degree programs. I know deal a lot with

hybrid online learning and higher education practices that can also be transferred to the

VLE scene. Having students across the globe is now giving me a real sense of what is to

increase flexibility of time to study at ones pace, increase flexibility of location since

my students and colleagues can be in any continent, the sharing of information to unify

faculty teaching practices across the Laureate Universities network, and the fostering of

digital information literacy to integrate faculty members teaching various subjects in

different fields.

Understanding our 21st century students, we teaching professional have numerous

digital learners sitting in class. It is our duty as faculty members to cope with their learning

needs and their need to get and have access to information in no time. For these 21st

century students, communication and collaboration are key elements in their way of

building skills that will eventually become competencies for their current or future jobs.

Reasons for moving into online education differ amongst teachers. Some regard it as a

natural progression to their current teaching practice, some are reluctant to change and

feel pressured into it by their institution, while others are interested in online education

but dont know how to get started (UNSW, n.d.). Anyway, reasons must help us identify

our guiding star to find our niche in the 21st Century education global scene and to provide

learners with true deep-learning experiences to help them develop competencies for their

current or future jobs.


UNSW. (n.d.). Why is online teaching important? Learning to Teach Online. Retrieved on 2015, Thursday 9 from https://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/ltto/pdf/LTTO_M1_Importance.pdf

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