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Are you a teacher?  Did you complete a “teacher preparation program”?  Take your Praxis exams and get your certificate from the state?

Congratulations!  You are now trained to fail as an online teacher.

After recently training over 100 teachers – almost all brand-new to online teaching – I’ve come to the conclusion that the way you’ve been trained to teach sets you up for failure as an online teacher.  That is, of course, unless you take great pains (or your school does) to make sure you go through a thorough course of ‘unlearning’ about what it means to hold the title of “Teacher”.

If you are starting to teach on line, begin by forgetting a large portion of what you’ve been taught.  Classroom management takes on a completely different meaning.  You are no longer the expert – no longer the “sage on the stage”, but more of a “guide on the side”.  You don’t need to have the ‘right’ answer – in fact, having a final answer in a threaded-discussion based class actually kills the learning for the students.

So – think back.  Did your teacher-prep program train you to moderate group discussions?  Did it help you learn techniques to manage 200 emails a day? Did it explain to you how to schedule live chats so they are at reasonable times of day, regardless of the time zone?  Did you enjoy your field experience at your local online school?

I didn’t think so…