Looking back, looking forward

I showcased my second post because it focused on critical thinking, which I value highly in my teaching and the material in that lesson gave me new ideas to think about in relation to the teaching and learning of critical thinking skills.

Looking back on my teaching, the most important lesson I draw from this course is the connection between social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. That really resonated with me.  I appreciated the different ideas for promoting social presence, such activities which may sometimes feel like a waste of time. They are in fact very important because they contribute to the learning environment and, therefore, to the learning that may occur within that environment even though they may not be learning activities per se.

Looking forward, what I want to think about is how to align the learning outcomes with the assessments used as a fundamental practice that guides my teaching. Along with that, and especially for online courses, I also want to develop a greater mindfulness in the feedback that I provide to ensure it also contributes to the desired learning outcomes. This process will entail personal reflection on my part, but I will also seek input from other teachers as to what has worked well for them in these regards and see how I may apply those techniques to my practice.