23 things

These are what I consider the most important things an online teacher should know/do, to ensure their courses run smoothly.

1.

Be comfortable surfing the web and emailing
2.

If possible, try using some online content in a current ground class
3.

Set up and learn to use a Google voice or similar service for talking with students
4.

become familiar with the procedures and policies of the school you're teaching at
5.

cultivate a good relationship with your content author/department head or whoever go to with questions or problems with your course
6.

If using a course or part of a course written by someone else, always at least skim all the material before beginning to teach it so you know the structure and flow of the course.
7.

Get training in and test run any technology your program expects you to use well in advance of using it with students.
8.

Familiarize yourself with the most common technical problems student encounter and know how to answer them or where to refer them for assistance.
9.

When responding to students, quality should be more important than quantity.
10.

Grade assignments and post results as quickly as possible—the sooner students get feedback, the more time they have to improve.
11.

Recognize the limits of asynchronous and text based communications. If you're emailing back and forth with a student and they're still not getting, go to phone or elluminate and see if voice improves communication.
12.

Time management it key—especially when teaching multiple online classes. Practice “rolling grading”--grade and give out feedback on assignments as they are submitted throughout the week, instead of waiting until after the due date to grade everything.
13.

Be patient—very, very patient, both with students and with technology. It usually takes a full semester teaching at a given school to get the “feel” of a given class.
14.

Keep your cool. Technology screw ups are inevitable. No matter how well you prepared, something can always go wrong. The key is to keep going and find a way to deliver content to deliver content to your students even so.
15.

Get a feel for troubleshooting. Learning to be comfortable tinkering with technology so you can fix things “on the fly” is crucial.
16.

Cultivate a good relationship with someone you know with good computer skills or, if you don't know anyone with this description, at least get to know the ins and outs of your schools technical help.
17.

Remember that your students are people even though you never see them. Always act with compassion and try to insert a human touch whenever possible, as in discussion posts.
18.

Watch all communications carefully. Faceless text communications, either from you or from other students, can sound much harsher than the author intended. Try to sooth any misunderstandings, hurt feelings, or potential conflicts as quickly as possible.
19.

Protect your own privacy. Turn off your google voice, don't answer emails, etc. when you don't want to work on the course. Always respond when you are at your best so your responses can be best too.
20.

Learn everything about cheating and plagiarism online that you can. Find out what, if anything, your school does to prevent these and what it's policy is if cheating is discovered.
21.

Model proper online behavior for your students. Post good responses as examples for them to follow, spell and grammar check everything, and read over before clicking post or send, to encourage them to do the same.
22.

Use your internet search skills to find other content that might be helpful to students. Either keep a collection of URLs to share with students as needed or, even better, find them as needed to answer the particular concerns of your students.
23.

Don't get too distracted by technology. Yes, there's a lot to know in order to make a course “work” online but, despite all the fancy new toys we have, the end goal of online classes is, just like any other class, to deliver quality content so make sure everything you do works towards that end.


Bonus 24. Consider getting an ipad. Get the correct software and become comfortable using it as nice way to make the course more "portable."