Making Human Connections in the Online Environment

Fall 2022

More Details

“Being student-centered is not just about recognizing that teaching is not the same thing as learning. It is also about seeing teaching as a human enterprise where your connection to your students, their connection to you, and their connection to each other are at the core.” --Dan Levy

For many professors, the pandemic forced the online environment upon us in a sudden and unwanted manner. For others, blended and asynchronous courses are now seen as a welcome addition to our delivery options, albeit with a sense of loss for the connections we readily developed in our in-person classes. To foster a culture of engaged learning, active learning principles apply in the online learning environment as much as they do in the physical classroom. Yet, the challenge is how do we create instructor, cognitive, and social presence in our online courses. Is this even possible?

Faculty in two FLCs, Successfully Engaging Students in the Virtual Learning Environment, explored the theme of engaging students in the online environment this past academic year. Researching, sharing, and implementing a variety of innovative and high-impact practices at both undergraduate and graduate levels, many creative insights, as well as simple, yet effective, ideas emerged. Our panelists, Sandy Benson (Professor, JCB); Jenn Caputo (Professor, CBHS); Elizabeth Whalen (Assistant Professor, CBHS); and Catherine Ariail (Instructor, CLA ) will share ideas we implemented as we reimagined the online learning environment to promote the human side of teaching and learning.

This is a Zoom workshop.
You will receive a Zoom meeting link the day before the workshop.

Registration closed

Want to propose a workshop topic related to teaching and professional development? Please share your genius with us and fill out the LT&ITC workshop proposal form. We're looking for a variety of interesting and diverse topics -- please help! 

Follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date on planned workshops, special events, and faculty book groups as well as highlighted articles that may be of interest to you.

If you're unable to attend a scheduled workshop, we typically record them and make them available via our YouTube channel.

Workshop registration and attendance information for inclusion in your tenure and promotion materials can be accessed directly via the university's workshop registration system.

If you're looking for some just-in-time training or want to dig a little deeper into a specific topic of interest, MTSU subscribes to both Teaching Professor ("reflects the changing needs of today's college faculty and the students they teach") and Academic Leader ("reflects the evolving needs of academic deans, department chairs and heads, program directors, and others with leadership responsibilities") online publications. If attempting to access either publication off-campus, you'll be asked to enter your MTSU credentials.

If you have an idea for a potential future workshop, please feel free to send your suggestions to Dr. Lando Carter.