I’m a professor and a student. I teach undergraduate graphic design and I’m working on my MFA in graphic design. I’ve been teaching for eleven years and have been a student for twenty credit-hours (four classes). Being on both sides of the online “fence” has me rethinking how I teach (and learn).

Here are my thoughts so far:

Learning online can be a lonely adventure. We are by ourselves except for the occasional virtual exchange between fellow student or the professor. Typically, we cannot meet classmates for a study group. Helping each other takes more time and effort since we have to email or post our work, and then wait. The waiting online can be painful.

A bad teacher online can kill everything. The lack of involvement by a professor is maddening and frustrating. We will quickly loose every ounce of respect for a professor that responds slowly, or poorly, or not at all. Being overtly vague or confusing, not communicating effectively, or just being disengaged will make us want to quit and take our time and tuition elsewhere. Or at the very least, avoid your classes whenever possible.

Poorly written instructions suck. They suck more online. Clear and to the point instructions with examples are important to us. If we are lost, don’t just throw more of the same at us. Teach us. And maybe as a side point, how do you expect us to do anything if you don’t know what or how to do it yourself? I’m too old and tired to jump through hoops just to jump through hoops.

Clear expectations are vital. This goes with instructions.

Keep reality in mind and the fact that we are online and probably asynchronous. We cannot just run over to your office when we have questions. We are in different timezones. We have lives that may be more involved than those students you stand in front of each week. On the other side of this, don’t short change my education because I am online. I’m paying the same tuition (or more) as those “residential” students.

Three days is not much time to do anything especially without direction. Do not waste our time by being late with announcements or instructions. We are busy too. And do not expect us to turn work in on day three when you wasted a more of our time by being late with instructions or answers.

(This one is for those in administration roles.) There is a benefit to small classes online. We get to know each other better and quicker. We provide each other with more, and better, feedback. We all get feedback from the professor. The feeling is more of being on a road trip with friends in a car as opposed to the middle seat in the middle section of a jumbo jet.

We worry about our grades more online. We need to know how we are doing. We probably do more online, work harder online and balance more in life while being online. Grade quicker and with useful comments.

Actual communication is awesome. Hearing a real voice or seeing who you are talking to makes a world of difference to us. It should be required at least once during each class. Make it easy for us and show us how. Make yourself available.

Communicate everything. Don’t move something or turn something off without telling us. You do not know when we are online working. The last thing we need to see is our grade tanking because you decided to turn some things off on a whim. Just because you cannot see us does not mean we are not here.

On the flip-side to some of this:

Students need to understand the professor isn’t “on call” and has other classes, responsibilities and probably a life. We cannot expect instant turn-around when we have a question. Work sooner so your questions, if you have any, can be answered before the deadline.

We have to ask questions if we need answers. ESP is not in the tool box of any professors I know. Also, look before you ask. The answer just might be within the course material. You just need to calm down and look for it.

Be responsible for your education. Do the work. Forget about having free time or at least do not use that as an excuse for not getting your work done. The bars and TV shows will be there once you graduate. Nobody is forcing you to be a student. Do not waste your or your professor’s time by being late, asking for extensions and generally taking up space and using up resources. BE a student and learn.

Communication is a two-way street. You need to check your email account daily too. Those “annoucements” you see in class are important. We are not just typing those messages to have somethign to do. We are communicating with you via the online environment we are all in — no different than if we were standing in front of you in a classroom.

Help each other. Nobody is alone in this unless you want to be or cause yourself to be. Email each other. Exchange phone numbers. Use one of the many online video chat tools. There is always a way to reach out to each other. If you were in a physical classroom you’d talk to the person next to you. So why not do the same in the virtual environment?