Photo 6 ONLINE teaching

This is me teaching "ONLINE" using the ADOBE Connect website classroom and a WIKI. This style of teaching is for the students, who, due to their location within the INSTITUTE  or due to their work commitments are unable to attend face to face classes.

We call this style of delivery Blended or Mixed Mode. The student studies from home but comes online regularly - once a week or once a month depending on the course and has access to a lesson prepared by the teacher and has the opportunity to discuss and be engaged in the learning via a chat pod.
The teacher is able to talk to the students as a group over the microphone.

This style of learning is not unique to our industry or our institution and is used in many places across Australia  and the world, but it was a learning curve and new to me when I began doing it 5 years ago.

 I enjoy this method of delivery as I enjoy the challenge of engaging students when you can't see their face or read their body language and they can't see yours either. Relying on your voice only to capture and maintain their interest.

To answer the final questions for this series.

What excites me about my teaching area? - I get to teach in a classroom or from my desk I also get to go out into industry to work with trainees on the job - so the variety and flexibility is there to always have something to be researching or creating to use as a resource.

Challenges that I encounter in my subject area? I teach over 30 separate units of competence over the qualifications of:

• Cert II in Community Services
• Cert III in Children's Services
• Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care

Ensuring that the information disseminated to students is current and within legislation and regulations, means that a great deal of professional development and preparation time is spent reading and sourcing this information and making it relevant to the students.

The pedagogical approaches I use and why?

I have found that the most effective form of teaching is to ensure that the subject matter that is being delivered matches the client/ student group. I prefer to use a mixture of below within each class and depending on the level of qualification i.e. Diploma students I would expect more independent note taking as this is the AQF level of their qualification where as at a Cert II level there would be structure and use of worksheets as some student may struggle with taking their own notes.

These are what I mostly use:

• PowerPoints of summarised information from which I speak on the topic
• Photocopied Handouts ( try to keep to a minimum for sustainability)
• Brainstorming as a whole group and small groups on the white board or paper
• Research using computers in small  groups or individuals
• Practical demonstrations such as in how to wash hands or change a nappy
• Use of play session environment to put the theory into practise
• Simulated environment and role plays to look at scenarios and ethical dilemmas