e-Teaching
Online Teaching : The e-Teaching Community
Created on: 02 July, 2009 Members: 33099 | Community Link: http://e-teaching.wiziq.com

Please Support Me!

by Austin B.
Posted on 14 April, 2010

Hello!

My name is Austin Blair and I am an online teacher who has worked with many different platforms and am a veteran in teaching online. I have just recently been offered a challenge that could probably change my life. What is the challenge?

Teach 1000 online classes in one year! The rules:

1) I must have at least 1 student in every class that I do.
2) All classes must be either on EduFire, WiZiQ, or any other online platform.
3) Each class must be at least 30 minutes long.
4) I cannot have the same student for more than 5 classes in a row.
5) Each class must be on a different topic, but can be in the same subject. For example, I can teach a world history course, but I have to have a different topic in each lesson.

365 days. 1000 classes. A worthless connection on a crappy computer. How far do you think that it will go? Put your comments below and wait..wait..wait. I will be posting links to all of my classes, so if you would like to join one, then you are more than welcome to sign up!

The challenge starts on April 19, 2010 and (hopefully!) will end on April 19, 2011. I hope that you will follow me on this great journey and I hope to learn a lot from it! Here we go!!

To follow my blog, please go to the link here:

http://www.teach1000.blogspot.com/

by Gary Harwell posted on 15 April, 2010
I have a blog called "Environmental English" where I help teachers at my University to teach without making so many photo copies and thus killing trees. www.environmentalenglish.blog.com
I do something about Teach 1000 to guide my teachers to your classes and show what can actually be done. Good luck!
by anneliese RN posted on 10 July, 2010
Brian: Listen to one of your classes. You need to stop reading from notes, or at least make it not so noticable, as we all read from notes but perhaps most annoyingly is the use of the word "okay," every other word. Just some constructive insight. I tend to repeat myself but then again, I hold 5 hour paying classes so I better get my point acrossed. You, on the other hand are doing free classes so I commmend that.
by Radhika B posted on 15 April, 2010
I would love to take this challenge . But I can start from May 5th :D . So if the challenge still stands by then I am up for it !!
by Radhika B posted on 16 April, 2010
Keep it up Austin !!! I am all for it !!! Both teaching and learning . All the very best . Hope you complete this challenge .
by Sebastian Panakal posted on 14 April, 2010
I decided to reply to your post because you asked NOT TO.

I have decided to take as many PUBLIC CLASSES as I can. The more I thought about your challenge, the more I became convinced of the law of probability. One can learn from the students, tailor the classes to suit the market, become an excellent teacher with emotional resonance with the audience, if one reads between the lines.

Thank you for triggering the thought.

My first in the series is at 7.30 pm, Indian Standard Time, tomorrow 16th April.

Austin, please accept my bouquet of thanks.
by VEERESH SAVADI posted on 16 April, 2010
best of luck to both, austin and radhika
by Austin B. posted on 15 April, 2010
That is great, Sebastian! Thank you very much for your bouquet. I wish you the best of luck and hope that you learn much throughout your journey. Also, let me give you a suggestion to start with. My upcoming class dealing with Variables & Expressions:http://www.wiziq.com/online-class/298735-variables-expressions

Would anyone else like to take a challenge? :)
by Austin B. posted on 14 April, 2010
Nobody please reply to this post anymore. I have looked over my schedule and everything, and I will not be able to pull this off yet. Also, George, thank you very much for your concern as I do agree with you. Please contact me on WiZiQ sometime because I would really love to chat with you.

So, I'm sorry for posting this everyone. Thank you. ;)
by Austin B. posted on 17 April, 2010
Thank you, Sandra! I do agree with George very much as well, but I think that I may just be stubborn. See, I would really love to do that. I mean, I could teach 500 classes in merely 6 months and then attend 500 classes in the next six months, but I don't know. You know what? Let's just see how it goes for a little while and if something needs to be changed, then I'll go with George's idea.

With that being said, don't forget to sign up for the Teach 1000! blog. I need your support in doing this!

http://www.teach1000.blogspot.com/
by Austin B. posted on 15 April, 2010
Well, if anyone wants to try this challenge out as well (either teach 1000 classes or participate in 1000 classes), then I'm all for it! I think I actually may give this a shot. As a matter of fact, scratch when I said that I don't have enough time because I want to do this! 1000 classes here I come!

Also, don't forget to follow me on my blog! All links to classes will be there! :)
by Austin B. posted on 16 April, 2010
@ George: Yes, I could do that. I may have to think about that a bit, but that does sound like a very good idea! Thanks!

@ David: I completely understand what you mean and thank you very much for saying so! I have been teaching online for nearly half a decade and one of the things that I have learned in doing this is that when teaching online, you always have to remember that it is very different than teaching face-to-face. For face-to-face classes, I usually go ahead and just lecture on and for online classes, it seems that I am doing the same thing.

I am really trying to take this into a different direction so that it can be fun for both me and my students. That is probably one of the main reasons why I would like to do 1,000 classes in one year, so that it can better help me as a teacher.

Also, I know of the balance between quality and quantity, but what if sometimes, a person does quite a lot of classes and as they progress throughout their challenge, their quality gets gradually better as they move on.

Please understand that I am not contradicting you or anything such as that, but it is just merely that when I am asked to do something, I go do it! I don't care how long it takes, I just want to get the job done! So, I understand what you mean, David, and thank you very much for it!

Also, when I was doing that class, it was my first time using a webcam and I was a bit nervous actually. We'll see how it goes and why not come on into one of my classes and see how I teach first-hand?

I hope to see you very soon and thanks again! :)
by George Machlan posted on 14 April, 2010
Sorry Austin, you did ask to comment...

I would so much rather you accept a challenge to be loved and respect by 10 students over the next year. I would chip in on a challenge like that. I truly wish you luck. I am certain that you will learn something. Just not what you may be hoping for.

George

PS The last offer still stands, from me. I would love to chat and share about our hopes and experiences at WizIQ.
by George Machlan posted on 16 April, 2010
Austin, I would like you to consider changing the rules slightly. A 50-50 challenge. Still 1000 classes but, all would attend 500 diverse classes and teach 500 classes. If I may, that would be a powerful community building competition as well as individually rewarding.

I am going to write Harman and ask that he enables a donation pay system to also test a monetary feedback capability for the free classes.
by Sandra Graves posted on 17 April, 2010
I am 100% in agreement with George Machlan" but I wish you the best in meeting your challenge.
by David Friedman posted on 16 April, 2010
Austin,

I took a look at your class on AP World History (I just saw the first ten minutes or so)

It looks like you were covering the material in the curriculum.

You asked the question: What can footprints tell us about the past?

You then mentioned that anthropologists were able to analyze the footprints to draw conclusions:

-The person who was walking was upright.

and I think one could also make an inference about the height of the person.

Maybe one suggestion or idea is that people are often looking for a little bit more pizzaz or excitement in the lectures.

It's not easy for me to make a judgement based on just ten minutes.

Doing a lot of classes may help you to get into the public consciousness, help you to develop as a teacher, and improve your skill in the craft of teaching; however I wonder whether 1,000 classes in 365 days is a bit excessive.

Maybe one comment is that it can be good to keep in mind the balance between quality and quantity.

David
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