The Tutor’s Tale.

Noel Chidwick

This month I’ll look at an online course from the other view - the tutor’s tale.

It’s a truism to say that if you want to learn something, you should teach it.

I studied Astrophysics at university, and with that I was thought qualified to teach mathematics when I began teaching in a further education college many years ago. And so I was, except the first subject I had to teach was construction geometry. The angles, volumes and surface areas of of roof spaces did not come up very often in our erudite studies of space-time curvature, or the intricacies of stellar mechanics: never once was it deemed necessary to calculate the numbers of tiles required to cover the surface of the moon. I had a month to learn before I entered the classroom of day-release building students. Learn I did. A flatmate at that time was a physics post graduate specialising in quantum chromodynamics, so he was not a great help at first, but together we wrestled with the problems, and I entered the class with my head held high, and my piece of chalk poised.

For a long time after I would look up at the famous Edinburgh skyline and its many and varied roofs with a whole new respect for the roofers over the last four hundred years.

I learned, and I was thrilled to be able to teach.

Teaching online is a thrilling experience too: and you learn so much. If you are a teacher, a lecturer, a tutor, a professor, here is your chance to add another batch of arrows to your quiver.

Another thought: I ran a series of workshops for teachers and lecturers, and the subject was using the tools of the Internet for teaching and learning. I often received mixed messages at first: some of my audience were sceptical, worried mostly about the time they would need to spend, and how, in fact, the were quite comfortable doing what they were doing. One university lecturer (let’s call him Geoffrey), who must have been in his fifties, piped up at the discussion: “I’ve been listening to what’s being said, and it’s obvious isn’t it, that I’ll have to rethink what I’ve been doing for the last twenty years, change everything.” He paused, clapped his hands with delight and grinned. “Great! This is going to be good!”

 

And so it is proving to be.

And what a great opportunity online learning is for teachers. As Geoffrey would agree, it’s a fantastic chance to look at your subject, and re-evaluate how you want to teach it, look at it in a whole new way. For this article I dug out some of my notes I wrote for teaching construction geometry, and, knowing what’s possible now, I am almost itching to get back into the classroom and teach it all over again. What a chance to get that digital camera out on the Edinburgh skyline; all those construction websites with all the tools I need; the software to draw virtual roof spaces; the class online forums for the students to show what they can do. Writing an online course may mean ditching your well-loved materials and starting again - is that necessarily a bad thing?

Teaching online, say with the New Curiosity Shop, means you can reach a whole new audience, not just the ones who turn up in your classroom. Students come from all over the world, and make for a wonderful mix, and for some interesting puzzles as you wonder if your course makes sense to students from other cultures.

Developing and supporting an online course is also ideal for you if you are out of teaching for a while. We have a couple of new Mums as tutors, and it means that they can work at a time and pace to suit them. Part-time teachers can also add an online course or two to their collection. Even if you are teaching full-time you could pick up a subject you have loved but not had the opportunity to teach in your institution: there’s not enough demand locally, perhaps, or it’s just not in the master plan.

Worse, we have been reading so much recently in the British press how adult learning courses in colleges and university are being closed. If that’s happening to you, don’t throw away your notes, look at them again and think about teaching online.

If you are interested, take a look at our information page for tutors.

What does this mean for you, gentle learner? It means you are taking a course supported by a motivated, innovative, enthusiastic and knowledgable tutor who is also learning - what more could you want?

Contents