 The skills you need to teach online, again, are very similar to the skills you need to teach in the face-to-face classroom. So I think one of the things that instructors might be intimidated about in terms of teaching online is they might be a little bit nervous about using the technology. And it's very important to know that you really don't need to be that technologically savvy in order to teach online. I think the biggest skill is having organizational skills and having a sense of what the course is going to look like from start to finish. That's really the biggest thing that I've found. The technological stuff can usually be taken care of through instructional design or through support at the university, which is great. But as long as you have a good sense of the content, as long as you have a good sense of how things sort of flow together logically, then I think it's very possible for someone that's even scared of technology to really excel in the online environment because those are the types of principles that the students look for. They're not looking for things that are incredibly elaborate. They're not looking for really sort of different technologies. They're looking for certainty in terms of what my expectations are. They're looking for a sense of what they're supposed to do every week. And they're looking for a sense of community. So all of those things are skills that really don't require a lot of technological savvy. I would say you definitely have to have some medium-level technical skills. You also have to have, I would say, empathy for your students. Some students will take online learning like Docs Take Two Other. Some students might be still reluctant, even though by all accounts everyone is on social media. And so empathy is one of the skills that you have to cultivate. How are students engaging this material? And also the other thing you have to learn to collaborate with other people. So now when you design a course, you're not the only person that basically drives the bus. There are other people on the bus. So there's people like Julia who you talk to about whether some of the stuff is feasible or not. So definitely it becomes more of a communal kind of affair. I think necessary skills for online teaching involve a basic level of adeptness at handling online tools. You have to know your way around the internet and you have to not be afraid of new learning in that regard. And I think that that to a certain extent has been a barrier for me because I'm not a technical person and I tend to freeze in the face of the first problem that I encounter. I tend to freeze. I'm not somebody who's going to tinker. And in that regard it's been really fantastic to have the support of our center here because they're at the other end of the phone or the other end of an email practically all the time. I think you need to be open to changing your pedagogical approach. I mean I think in order for this to work you have to be ready to grow. And I hope that we all are that way as teachers. But I found that I had a certain level of expectation of what I was going to learn and I've learned that much more. And that's been really exciting. The bigger the class and this is maybe not even an issue associated with online or blended but just maybe size of class and online classes tend to be or are often larger is you have to be very well organized. You have to have things prepared. You can't sort of do just in time delivery that a lot of profs like these you know as they're madly rushing to get everything ready for that day's lecture you can't really do that in the world of online or blended classes. You have to have everything all prepared in advance. So there's a lot of work that you have to do up front in order to make things run smoothly. I think that's probably one of the biggest differences that I would see anyway in terms of doing an online or blended class. You need creativity. You need to organize activities that could create a sense of belonging also for that online environment that otherwise could seem dry. So organize activities that could bring the students together. For instance group research, for instance online debate, activities that would warm up the atmosphere of the course but also speak directly to the outcomes wanted every week. So you need creativity for that. Okay so some of the skills I think that are required for teaching online is you have to have a different attitude around availability. In an in-class course you can expect to see them at least once a week, often more than that. And then you set up office hours so that you're reachable and the assumption is everyone's on campus and so they can come see you. But online students tend to at least in the classes that I've taught tend to work at all hours, tend to cover the material often last minute so you get a flurry of activity right before an exam and that can be frustrating but at the same time understanding that that's where the students come from and making yourself more available to answer is I've found to be more successful and on top of that then you have to adjust your communication style a little bit. They tend to be, a lot of the comments come via email or the discussion boards and as a result they're very informal, casual almost and it would be hard to imagine them asking the same thing if they were talking to you face to face but through this communication through the course management system or through email or they come across as casual. Adapt your communication to their level. I found that to be more successful, you know, being a little more casual, a little more like yeah, you know, say yeah instead of really, it's simple things but honestly they respond so much better when they feel like they're talking to a person and not this, you know, kind of unreachable professional that, you know, is an expert and you come across as almost bothered by their question if you're too formal. There are definitely skills that I've developed through online teaching. The biggest skill that I developed was instructional design and it's really impacted my face to face teaching as well. Sort of storyboarding the course and coming up with a project plan, coming up with set learning outcomes that were directly linked to assessment. These are the types of things that really can't be overlooked in the online environment and in some ways you can kind of overlook them in the face to face classroom because you're kind of making choices as things go along. So for me that sense of developing a course in a holistic way and making sure that everything is integrated was the biggest skill that I had developed teaching online and it's been a really big, it's had a very big impact on my face to face courses as well. For sure I've developed lots of new skills through online teaching. I'm getting to be a very good multitasker and just learning how to work with technology, learning about technology and not being afraid to use it and try new things.