About the Author
Deirdre Donat is counselor of General Studies and part-time faculty of University College.
Teaching Online—Making It You
Deirdre Donat
donat@adelphi.edu
After many years of teaching counseling-type courses at Adelphi, I was propelled into the world of online courses quite by accident. As it turned out, the professor who created the “Introduction to Counseling” course was unable to commit to teaching it. Welcome to the world of Blackboard and then a semester later, to Moodle. Fortunately for me, I had a lot of help from the program whizzes at the Faculty Center for Professional Excellence, and things went along quite smoothly.
I had two major concerns about teaching a counseling course online. Since I was so used to interaction and participation in my classroom, I needed to find ways to replicate that in an online format. Once I outline issues of confidentiality, I use a many real-life examples in my classroom to illustrate the use of a concept or a theory, and I am dependent upon the students to ask pertinent questions from their own experiences that may help me to illustrate a point. In addition, the online environment can be impersonal and as a person who relies on body language and tone of voice. I did not want the course to be robotic, nor did I want it to seem like a semester-long series of text messages.
A Personal Touch
In order to make online courses feel more personal, I searched around and found a photo of myself to use as an online personality or avatar. By doing so, I immediately became a “real” person to the students enrolled in the class. Posting an avatar also served as an example for other students to do the same, which helped to add a face to the students enrolled in the class. I have noticed that each semester, more and more students upload their avatars on sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and this practice carries over into the virtual classroom.
I have included in my course an introductory section and have posted my biography as well. The site also includes some personal information, including my hobbies, information about my family, so that I become a person to him, not just someone who is typing responses and grading papers. By posting my own bio first, it models the behavior and encourages students to do the same. I have found that an online course is a study of vicarious reinforcement; all it takes is one student to post an outstanding response, followed by some really positive reinforcement from the professor about the quality of the post, and the other students will then begin to respond in a more comprehensive way, which will, in turn, help create a better learning experience.
Get the Discussion Moving
Since concerns of confidentiality would prevent me from sharing real-life examples online, I employ discussion prompts to help the students think about the question in a different way. In the classroom, it is easier to select a student to answer a question. Online, I am dependent upon the responses made by the students and use the responses to prompt the class to examine a topic further.
For example, when covering a section about counseling ethics, we discuss boundaries. There is a discussion question regarding accepting vegetables as a form of payment for services rendered. Nearly all of the students answering that question feel that bartering is completely against ethical counseling practice but these are students from Long Island. The practice is not common here. But, if you practice in Appalachia, that would be a completely acceptable manner of payment. I would prompt the student to think about the answer in a different light by creating a different scenario. Controversial material is a wonderful way to get students both involved and to respond, especially online because there is some anonymity and students may feel safer and less apt to feel judged by peers for expressing an opinion. 
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