Online learning community

(Ballad of Change, Arnillas. 2001)

I have been teaching online Art History at Blinn College since 2003. Most of my students are in engineering, math or one of the sciences at a four-year Texas institution, or they are in the process of transferring there. Almost none of my students are in the arts, a few are in a humanities career, or education, and a few are non-traditional students. In any given semester I may have senior science, math and engineer students, a deployed soldier taking my class in a boat, some student taking the class from India, one or two firemen, stay home mothers going back to school, and one to three Blinn College Health and Kinesiology students.

We all know that the single most important event that has to happen in the online environment is that the learners have to come into the virtual space, and then, we have to keep them coming back. In addition to the regular challenge of engaging learners, I have to help my learners find relevance in the content, since most often my content is not directly connected to their list of need to know subjects. So, one of the most important tasks I have is to to help students see the connection between the history of arts/architecture and their subject areas of interest. Helping the learner find relevance in the material is one of the things that I think I'm doing well and I will discuss the strategies I have found in some detail in future blogs.

I am interested in having a forum where we discuss the challenges and solutions we encounter, as learners change, and virtual tools evolve.