The world is changing. In the recent past, teaching online was viewed as a specialty, even a luxury. Today it is a necessity. However, most teachers have had no formal training or practice in online teaching and are expected to teach students who depend on them for guidance. This can make for a very stressful experience for teachers, and a less-than-satisfactory, even chaotic, experience for students. The Online Teacher Preparation Practicum (OTPP) fills that gap. It is designed to RAPIDLY train and equip teachers to become effective online instructors irrespective of subject area or degree of computer proficiency.
In this course, students (primarily working or aspiring teachers) will learn how to teach online. The goal of this is to augment their skills as teachers by helping them develop the technical and operational competencies to deliver their content and manage their classrooms in an online environment. This course assumes NO prior experience in online teaching; cohorts will be organized based on student proficiency in the use of computers as well as prior experience in online teaching. The most common online teaching and conferencing platforms will be introduced and thoroughly practiced as part of the course. Those students that lack relevant prerequisite skills (e.g. basic use of a computer) may be enrolled in the relevant CGS class(es) to address those deficiencies (see description below). Due to the nature of this practicum, sessions run from four to twelve weeks depending on the needs of students in the specific cohort.