Online Teaching in the Psychology Field - Research Paper Example

? Online Teaching in the Psychology Field The World Wide Web has brought with it numerous benefits. The education sector has grasped this opportunity seeing many students access education in a situation that would have otherwise seemed impossible. The introduction of online learning has been embraced by many universities seeing more students achieve their educational goals. Allen & Seaman (2008) research also showed that institutions reported increased online class registrations after the economic downturn. As a result therefore more job opportunities have been created among them being online professors. This paper will discuss career opportunities that an online professor in the field of psychology can pursue. It will also put into detail what the requirements are, the challenges and the market need for such services. Online Teaching in the Psychology Field My specialization as an online professor within the psychology field gives me a wide variety of careers to choose from. Online professor entails giving lectures online through various strategies to ensure that students are able to achieve as much benefit as those attending physical classrooms. After attaining this degree I intend to venture into teaching online focusing on psychology courses. My classroom setting would vary from diploma to post graduate students depending on my levels of qualification. I therefore see myself handling students of different demographics in terms of age, religion, gender and culture. Today if you went to Google search engine to shop for an online course, psychology, law and business courses are the most searched for. According to a study by Allen & Seaman (2008), there were about 5.6 million students enrolled in an online course in the year 2008. The study also indicated that at least 2500 universities and colleges had introduced online courses. This confirms availability of the market. They may be students enrolled in other universities and are looking for short courses to boost their career or students specializing in psychology. To achieve these goals, I will need more than my degree. I need to learn my market for me to come up with effective teaching materials for my students. Online teaching is not just a matter of giving notes to students. This has been confirmed by numerous researchers who in their conclusions advised that, online teaching entails the use of strategic and tactical teaching models to ensure its effectiveness. It is for this reason that The Hanover Research Council (2009) came up with a manual on online teaching. In this manual, the researchers reviewed some of the most effective teaching methods for online lecturers. Apart from my educational qualification these strategies are what I need to learn to be an effective teacher online. The Requirements Bill Pellz gave three principles that online teachers can use. The first principle is to let the student’s work, ensure interaction and establish a presence (The Hanover Research Council, 2009). According to this author if the lecturer established these three, then the course will achieve its purpose. By student doing most of the work, the author meant that student must be able to tread the topics, quiz themselves and even assess themselves. This I can do through creation of softwares that can assist the student to mark their quizzes and enhance understanding of atopic. This method will also ensure that the students interact with the topic fully by reading many other resources. I can do this by linking my lectures to other useful and relevant resources so that my students have access to a wide source of information. On the second principle, my interaction with my students can be effective through emails, video and audio. I therefore need to be well conversant with online forms of communications. I can also use group works to ensure student interact with each other throughout the course. Thirdly, Pellz came up with a principle of presence. The presence of the teacher and the student must be felt socially, cognitively and professionally (The Hanover Research Council, 2009). This means that the teacher presence must be felt through materials prepared, feedback, evaluations and accountability. Work handed in for marking must be graded on time; lecture materials should be clear, original and relevant. The student must be felt through his interaction with the lecturer and the other students. The student and the lecturer must be able to engage cognitively through intense discussions and proposal. This I intend to achieve by majoring on interaction between the students and I. I will need to have full access of internet, be able to plan my time and to keep deadlines. Since online classroom relies on the text and ability to use the technology, The Hanover Research Council (2009) suggested that it is the lecturer’s first tasks to understand his or her students. Therefore one of the things I need to know is whether the student has knowledge of how to use the softwares for the programs. If this is not the case then a “friendlier” system should be used to ensure students can follow simple instructions, submit their work without difficulty. Here I am considering that these students choose online classes because they were constrained by time and distance. Therefore it is up to me to ensure that my course outline can be followed and that my documents can be downloaded with ease and speed. The success of online teaching in Psychology It has been already been mentioned in this paper that law, psychology and business are the most sought after online courses. This I have done through observation and desktop research specifically by use of the search engine Google. Where there is a demand then there needs to be a supply match. This means that many online lecturers are opting for psychology and business classes because of the demand. Therefore, to distinguish oneself as the preferred online teacher, one may first need to be identified with an authentic institution. This has been made easy by the introduction of online courses by numerous universities. Therefore, my first task would be to get an online teaching position in one of the accredited universities. What many universities have done is to record the live classroom interaction which is then availed to the online students. However, like I have mentioned above this may not be enough, hence the need for universities to have lecturers specifically trained for online teaching. An online teacher has the advantage of skills and strategies to use for the virtual classrooms. Therefore apart from the video recording one can use various multimedia forms of communication to display the information. Many of the lecturers who have succeeded in this field have mastered the art of online teaching. This comes back to the main principles that I discussed above. A lecturer must be technology savvy. Because the online class depends on the computer and internet, one must be able to maneuver the computer tasks and be competent to handle the softwares he or she is using. The successful lecturers have also been able to come up with unique strategies that have earned them referrals. Hence, like already mentioned a lecturer known for effectiveness and timeliness will be referred to many students especially by former students. Other lecturers have managed to make their name through advertising and strategy, like those who work as associate teachers for already established online teachers. Online teachers in my field have been successful because they have understood the market needs. There are those topics that are considered “hot” in this field. Through an internet search I was able to determine that some of these topics are in behavior psychology, addictions and mental disorders. Through dialogue with mentors and colleagues many advice that working in an accredited university/college (or as an associate to an already established teacher) would increase and fasten my chances of establishing my teaching career. From this advice, the argument is that in an accredited university I will have the advantage of the ready market as compared to starting of on my own. I have managed to interview a number of professionals in this field and many of them have affirmed this notion. I have also done desktop research and observational research to be able to determine which topics I would be interested in teaching. Therefore, I can affirm that my decisions are majorly based on research through observation, interviews and internet research. In this field, I expect to work with many other professionals. I will be working with other lecturers who due to experience have vast knowledge of the topics I intend to pursue. These lecturers are crucial for advice and assistance in research on the topics of interest. I will also be working with professionals in the field of computers and technology who will assist in developing effective softwares and systems for my lecturers. I will need to work with marketers who will bring on board specific strategies on how to reach my targeted audience. The medical practioners will bring on board the field experience on psychological disorders and complications related to psychological health. Other professionals include accountants and lawyers. I on the other hand will be able to bring in the latest training models in the field, through ongoing research and practical experiences. Conclusion As already explained in this paper: online careers entails more than video recordings of the lecture. The online teacher needs to be equipped with the latest knowledge, technology and research findings to be most effective in the teaching. The online teacher must also device unique and strategic ways of relaying his or her information by utilizing available forms of multimedia messages. Online learning will only be effective if the lecturers invest their time, skills and must be able to readily embrace new skills and technology as they emerge. References Allen, E., & Seaman, J. (2008). Staying the course: Online education in the United States, 2008. Retrieved November 10, 2013, from http://www.sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/pdf/staying_the_course.pdf. The Hanover Research Council. (2009). Best practices in online teaching strategies. Retrieved November 10, 2013 fromhttp://www.uwec.edu/AcadAff/resources/edtech/upload/Best- Practices-in-Online-Teaching-Strategies-Membership.pdf. Read More