Dr. Laura Bush is a core faculty member in the School of Letters & Sciences at Arizona State University. In this enlightening interview Dr. Bush talks about developing and teaching hybrid and online courses.
In Part 1, Dr Bush emphasizes that creating socially motivated learning communities is a precursor to overcoming the physical barriers of online learning. This can be achieved by developing concise course guidelines and objectives, and then using them to promote rich and constructive online discussions. Dr. Bush provides several techniques for managing the quality and quantity of online discussions which can ultimately be used to build community and stimulate higher learning.
In Part 2, Dr. Bush addresses issues for those who are relatively new to online teaching and offers advice on how to get comfortable using this technology in their courses. She also discusses strategies that will facilitate student-student and student-teacher interactions and emphasizes the importance of maintaining an open line of communication between students and teachers. These strategies can then be interlaced with email and online discussions to manage the volume of online course email.
