Back in the Saddle...

For the past two semesters at work I have been taking on new responsibilities.  Last semester I accepted an assignment as a course developer for one of the online psychology courses at the college where I work.  This semester I was asked to be the course mentor for the same course. 

A course mentor is someone who interacts with the faculty for an online course.  If the faculty run into problems with the course construction or internal workings of the curriculum they will do a report about the issue.  It is my job to respond to those issues, either clarifying the problem or possibly fixing an issue that was not found as part of the course development. 

After I took the position of course mentor I found out I also had to take an online course where I get certified to be a course mentor.  All right, I have taught online courses for the last few semesters at the college where I work.  I also took many online courses as part of my doctoral program.  I wrote many papers and journal entries during my studies about my love/hate relationship with online learning. 

So I started this course last week.  It goes for six weeks and has all the attributes of an online course; discussion board posts and responses, homework and assignments with deadlines and quizzes.  Yikes!  I have forgotten the pressure you experience in an online course keeping everything straight and trying to fit all the work in with your other responsibilities.  Did I mention deadlines?  I'm sure I did.  There are lots of deadlines. 

In my work as a college professor and course developer I had forgotten what it is like to be a student.  This course is bringing back all the memories, good and bad (remember love/hate relationship)?  It's fun to challenge myself and learn new things but I hardly seem to finish one session and have to move onto the next.  I am doing this while working a full time job, teaching two online classes and still working as a course mentor for a class.  (Also being Grandma to my grandson).

Although I am totally stressed usually at some point during the week, overall I am loving it.  It reminds me that this is what my students are experiencing.  I have a greater appreciation for what they are going through as they navigate my classes.