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When I was first approached by SMU to move my traditionally taught class to on-line, I was terrified!  No kidding!!!  I was paralyzed to the point of not being able to even begin the transition.  Yikes!  SMU supported my eventual efforts and provided an on-line expert whose job it was to create with me my entire course on-line.  Once that was accomplished, my next job was to actually teach the class on-line.  Wow!  I didn't know how to navigate the course and was thrown directly into the fire.  I learned, students survived (and at times coached me), and after time, on-line became my preferred method of teaching.  Who knew!!!
I would now rank myself in stage 5 (with support as needed).  However, know that this has been quite a journey for me.  I have had to learn every step of the way.  Although I have made great strides, technology is still somewhat of a "foreign language" to me.  It is not intuitive.  It can be very frustrating!  But, it can also be so greatly rewarding!!!
I have re-tooled my course on-line over the past 7 years, and I just finished working with a course designer at Wiley to again revamp and revitalize the course and my instruction.  This will be on-going, I'm sure.  With the help of many patient people supporting my efforts and teaching, guiding, and fixing things for me, I've gained confidence and can navigate my course and student interaction.  I have to admit, however, that when the course moved from Engage to Canvas, I had visions of fully retiring!  The good news is that I elected to dive into the new territory, and I learned much more quickly and efficiently than the first time around.  My sense of being defeated didn't last very long!
I now look to becoming more aware and offering more engaging activities when I come upon them.
I love the fact that kids MUCH younger than me (like around 10 years old) have at times become my IT experts!  It's true...I'm a life-long learner!🤗

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I've only started teaching this past summer and have been exposed to a hybrid model of teaching. Since I'm a millennial I've found myself pretty comfortable with online teaching, however, I still identify in Stage 3 mostly as I try to understand how to best utilize online learning tools. Having technical issues while conducting class online still sounds very frustrating and anxiety provoking -- luckily this hasn't occurred for me yet. I'd like to get more comfortable using padlet, jamboard, etc. throughout this course.

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I started at Saint Mary's in Sept 2020 and taught my first class in January 2020. Everything was fully online until May 2022. I was not coming in with hardly any teaching experience so for me the stages of change were probably exacerbated by the stresses of being a new teacher. Specifically for teaching online I was mostly in Stages 1 to 3 during until January 2022. Online teaching mostly felt unproductive because I was having to do so much work to develop my course, manage students that were raised in a Zoom environment, and figure out how to optimize content that students have a lot of fear about in an online setting (statistics). So my first year was marked by lots of fear and anxiety leading to paralyzed behavior and unproductive behavior. I think January 2022 was a turning point for me because I finally had arrived at a course that I taught once before. It felt like there was space to play around. I worked very hard and got feedback that my efforts worked. It felt like I figured out what worked in my own courses to optimize my content delivery. This put me into Stage 4/5.

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I may be in a different place than many since I have been teaching a synchronously and fully-online since 2015. I think I’ve gone through this cycle a few different times. Right now, I feel somewhere in between Discomfort and Discovery. I feel as though my courses need some fine tuning to how teaching has changed because of the pandemic.

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Throughout my higher education I was given the opportunity to engage in hybrid learning. I believe having this opportunity really set me up for success as a teacher and continued learner.

I would say that I am eager, energetic, hopeful and passionate about finding new and interesting way to engage students in learning that will impact their ability to conceptualize material to formulate their own thoughts and feelings.

I am confident I am in stage 4, discovery. That is for now!

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I am in Stage 1 in that I feel cautious (but I don't feel paralyzed), Stage 2 in that I have some skepticism (but I don't feel resistant), but I think I land most solidly in Stage 4 (as others do) because I feel enthused and eager to learn. What I'm skeptical about is this: Will the discussions be deep? And will they be safe? I talk a lot about race, gender, and sexuality in my writing courses. Will an online environment where we can't read body language really work when it comes to discussing controversial and difficult subjects? What happens, for example, if on Wednesday someone says something online that is harmful, but I don't catch it till Thursday, and already other classmates have been harmed by this comment, and people start reacting to the original comment, and the class dynamic blows up all without me knowing until the next day. And what about all the ways we pick up on serendipitous cues about each other--for example, when someone comes into an in-person class every night with the same sandwich, that fact might prompt a classmate to make a comment about it, and start a serendipitous conversation. It's those lost moments I worry about. But ultimately, I'm very excited about online classes because writing has always been my preferred medium (being a writing teacher!), and it seems that online classes offer many opportunities for low-stakes writing tasks.

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I’ve been teaching at Saint Mary’s for 12 years and taught the first 8 years exclusively face-to-face. I loved building rapport with students and enjoyed the interactions. I felt a real pressure to keep up with the changing educational practices and began teaching online, as well. I really missed the face-to-face interactions and having everyone in the same room at the same time hearing the same messages at once. Online teaching produced a lot of anxiety at first and struggles with various technologies, learning another LMS, seeing myself on video (yikes!), and teaching some classes on Bb and others on Engage and then another LMS switch to Canvas. I’ve worked through stages 1, 2, and 3 pretty well and now I’m excited about learning and discovering new ways to augment my teaching and my content in online classes. I’d say that I’ve worked my way into Stage 4.

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Ann Schissel
I came to SMUMN in May 2020, so shortly after the pandemic started.  Not only did I have to become an "online instructor" but I was also teaching courses that were new to me.  It was challenging to create classes in an online environment when I hadn't had the opportunity to teach them in a traditional setting.  Additionally, when we began in person teaching again, recalculating these courses for a brick and mortar experience was difficult as well!

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Even though I have experience with online teaching, I still feel like I'm stuck in stage 3 and 4. During 2020, when Covid forced many programs online, I was faculty at UT Arlington. While all of our classes were both in person and online, the shift to go entirely online was still a scramble. It was very confusing to the students, as I'm sure was the case with many other programs. Also, converting clinicals to online was a uniquely difficult challenge. I have helped to develop online courses, taught online courses, and completed two degree programs online. However, I still often feel like a novice educator because I still have so much more to learn.

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I will say this...it has been a Loooong journey for me to get to the Understanding and Integrated stages for me with the change to online teaching and learning. I struggled with the idea of not being face-to-face with humans in real space and time because I need the energy of people to keep me going.  I used think that building relationships with my students and creating a learning community, couldn't possibly happen online and the only way I can get certain material to them is in person so I can explain it. I was completely resistant with every online learning development I took and thinking this can't possibly work.  I cut myself out before I even got started.
If I wanted to keep up with the way education is changing and the way students were coming to me, I had to push through the danger zone and try things out Luckily, the pandemic forced me to put things into practice and PRACTICE it was...the more I did it, the more I could see what worked and didn't work.  I also am comforted knowing that I have peers along side me to practice with.