The Faculty Center for Professional Excellence (FCPE) is there to assist with that question. Please schedule an appointment with the FCPE at 516.877.4221 to brainstorm ideas and course possibilities for online teaching.

First, read through the questions below and answer honestly about your teaching style. They are for your personal use and will help you asses your preparation needs if you are considering becoming an online instructor.

Personal/Organization

• Do you communicate clearly through your writing?
• Are you self-motivated and self-disciplined instead of scrambling at the last minute?
• Are you willing to initiate and moderate online class discussions for students?
• Are you comfortable with using or learning technology as opposed to others who seem easily frustrated?
• Do you believe that high quality instruction can take place outside of a traditional classroom?
• Do you set specific objectives for your courses?
• Do you prepare each session’s instruction before class rather than make it up as you go along?
• Are you able to set limits for yourself, e.g., stick to office hours?
• Are you well organized at managing files and folders, both in your physical office and on your computer?

Technical Fluency

• Do you have regular access to a home computer/laptop with high-speed Internet access?
• Do you use email regularly as a communications method?
• Can you easily surf the Web and perform searches to find necessary information online?
• Do you know how to download a file from the Internet?
• Can you attach a file to an outgoing email?
• Are you able to sit at your computer for two or more hours at a time?
• Do you have the necessary software applications on your home and/or office computer, e.g., MS Office Suite, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browsers, RealPlayer, Quicktime, and WinZip or Stuffit?
• Would you feel comfortable providing basic technical computer or Internet assistance to students?

Assessment
If you have few of the qualities mentioned above section, you may need extra preparation before submitting a proposal for an online course. The FCPE can help you work on your technical and organizational skills in order to become more adept at successfully leading students in an online course.

To thrive in this teaching platform, you can’t put off creating course assignments or the preparation of materials. You must be able to resist distractions, whether it be people in your home, the TV, or other interruptions on your computer while you’re preparing course work. You need to be able to set aside blocks of time where online posting takes priority. Students are depending on you to lead them through the course work. In addition, students may be looking forward to enhancements to break up all the text, such as having their reading supplemented by video and audio.

Class participation is included as part of the student’s grade in most courses. As with live instruction courses, it will be up to the individual instructor to determine what constitutes adequate participation in their online class.