Look Inside my Crystal Ball
What is the future of education? That is a huge question. There is a lot of speculation about whether or not the trends towards online learning will be accelerated by the pandemic. I don't have a crystal ball, so I'm not sure, but I do know that the magic of education is in connection. This can happen online, but it certainly takes a lot of effort. To feel engaged, students need to make three main connections: To their professor: They need to feel like the teacher is a real person who is really interested in the subject that they are teaching. This is hard hard hard online. I try to add personal detail to my classes, and let my students see my face (at least occasionally) despite my introverted desire to remain anonymous. To each other: I just started doing peer editing again in my courses this semester. I've always hated online peer editing, but I've come to realize that it's necessary if I want my students to connect with one another. They need to be a
