Where to begin? We are in unchartered territory. Although this time last week I knew it was likely there could be come changes coming, I’m sure I’m not alone in being astonished at the speed with which life has changed in the last few days.

The irony is not lost on me, that I was hoping for more opportunities to learn to move my teaching online and to teach in a virtual classroom. I wasn’t counting on the rapidity with which that would happen; ‘baptism’ and ‘by fire’ come to mind. I know I am only one step ahead of some of my colleagues in learning the technology to teach online and I’m grateful for the opportunity I had today to ‘get stuck in.’

And what did I learn?

Synchronous teaching is not the same as face-to-face teaching. Logically I know this – in reality, the class I had prepared relied on my students reacting and responding in the same way as they do in a face-to-face environment. They ‘kind of’ did – some spoke, some were quiet – regardless of whether there were opportunities to use the ‘chat’ typing function or the chance to ‘speak.’ However, I was still looking for the same cues I am used to in the classroom. As students can choose not to share video, I need to account for this difference , when teaching online.

Synchronous teaching is not the same as asynchronous teaching. Again, logically I know this, but I can see now that there’s a whole different kind of creativity required to blend the synchronous and asynchronous aspects of online teaching.

There is power in vulnerability. I am in gratitude to Brene Brown for preparing me for this moment. There is a humility that comes from teaching using a medium that all (in my case) your students are far more comfortable with than you are, even while I remain the ‘content expert.’ It was a truly heartwarming experience working with a group of students so willing to bear with me and join me on this new journey.

As the world continues to change on an hourly basis, more than anything I am grateful for the learning that is coming my way and for the support I have both at work and at home, as I embrace, ‘no longer being a luddite.’