We all learn from the experience of others. I had an opportunity to interview Dr. Eva Shaw who teaches a series of online courses with Ed2Go. Her successful online courses are offered worldwide through more than 5000 community colleges.
Kompes: How long have you been teaching online?
Dr. Shaw: Six or seven years, since the beginning of Education to Go, which is now owned by Thomson Learning. I was there almost from the beginning.
Kompes: What courses do you teach?
Dr. Shaw: Writeriffic: Creativity Training for writers, Writeriffic 2: Advanced Creativity Training for Writers, The Craft of Magazine Writing, Travel Writing, and Write Your Life Story
Kompes: What are your definitions of training, learning and teaching? Are there different outcomes or objectives associated with each definition?
Dr. Shaw: What's the difference? They all blend together. I think everyone can learn. Everyone can be a writer. We all can't be the Tiger Woods of writers, but we all have creativity in us. There are many "writing gurus" who say writing cannot be taught and that's hooey. It's like any skill. The more you do it, the better you become. Everyone can find joy in writing.
I use different learning and teaching methods because there's different ways to present the information. One of the things I try to do is never assume. I try never to be condescending. I call my students writers from the get go. They are there to be writers and writing is, unlike other skills, if you think you are you are. I use oodles of positive reinforcement. Never critical. I always encourage and give examples of how it might be better without saying something was done incorrectly.
Kompes: Did your organization have an implementation committee in place when planning for online education? What groups were or should be represented on such a committee?
Dr. Shaw: The beginning committee was Craig Power, the program founder, a few other software designers, and a customer service person. It was really just a handful of people, a real start up. Missing from our start up, I think there should have been an editor. If learners find a little crack in your lesson they'll say there's something wrong with the class. We have an editor now.
Kompes: What structures should be in place before an organization begins an online program?
Dr. Shaw: It's different for every program. Ours started as a start up with a director and a few designers. Developing a quality product is the most important thing and having people on board to address problems as they arise is important.
Kompes: What was your goal as you developed your online program of courses?
Dr. Shaw: Nobody taught me how to do this. I'm a natural nurturer and I care about people. I picked up the things that work and I delete the things that don't work. I built the courses for my own series in a way that I would want to take an advanced writing class myself. I always make sure the classes are available to real emerging writers. The greenhorns. If there are terms or topics I make sure I clearly define them in the beginning so there are no secrets or the professor only knows this stuff. It's all out there. I make sure that I provided a foundation and built from that foundation in a strong, sequential manner.
Kompes: How did you determine your course structure?
Dr. Shaw: They [EdToGo] had a structure that they asked me to follow for the course design. Six weeks, twelve lessons with quizzes, a pretest that was supposed to be difficult, so that the customer, the client, would see that they'll have some benefit from the class. Then they said there would be five chapters per lesson and each had a word count, approximately 5000 words. It had parameters of how much material would be there, including a glossary with every lesson and also supplemental material. One of the things I like with Education to Go is that the learners don't have to buy anything else, text books or materials.
Kompes: Who do you see as your stakeholders?
Dr. Shaw: I consider my students to be customers and I strive to give them 150%. Yes, I get paid for what I do, but I really love what I do and it changes lives, one after another. Sometimes it's as easy as being the first person to say you can write and passing that on to them. For most of them, it's a different learning system than they used in school. I also keep the classes very informal. They all call me Eva.
I stretch the boundaries, but it's all about the learners, it's not about me. If I can't say something nice about their writing I do something else until I can come back and find something helpful.
It has turned into my 40 pound toddler. It's grown much bigger than I ever expected.
Kompes: What do you like or dislike about the learning management system (LMS) you use in your teaching?
Dr. Shaw: I like our system. It's a company created system. I don't like threaded discussions. They seem too complicated. We use a single post system. They have hotlink checks and I like that. It's easy to edit lessons. I really love it.
Kompes: What is the most common problem or issue you face and how do you respond?
Dr. Shaw: Time. The reading is exhausting. But, that's the course. It's really tiring. It's not about me. I'm a fast reader and yet I know that because of the experience I've had, I know that the comments I give are really poured over and I know that I can't be flippant with my comments. Some days it takes 9 hours to get through all the posts. Mostly I just buck up and do it.
Humor is very difficult in online classes because somebody may take offense. Tehre are people who have very special needs and that's the sensitive part that we can't see. There are learners in prison or with disabilities, but we don't know when we teach online. If I make a joke I always qualify with "that was a joke."
I keep my courses rated G or PG and if people don't understand what that means I give them a full list of what is verboten. When learners ask about their first amendment rights I tell them that I don't care about their rights more than the rights of others. I care about all of my learners and keeping everyone feeling comfortable.
Kompes: How do you market?
Dr. Shaw: It's all about marketing. Tide doesn't just keep its product on the shelf. It tells everyone about it. You have to market it. Thompson doesn't do that, it doesn't market. I know that I have a quality product that is economical for almost everyone. I've got a good product and I believe in my product. What I do is I set up a mailing list for everyone who contacts me, I set up a website and reference the courses on my website. When I go out to speak I take flyers to make it easy for everyone to know about the classes. I give out my book marks willy nilly. I do what realtors do, I ask for business. I ask student who enjoyed my course to tell their friends.
EdtoGo has a 25-30 percent return customer rate. I often get referrals from students in other courses.
I blatantly ask for business. It's easy to sell because I believe in my product and the environment where it is. When I get up in front of group and I tell them about the courses. I tell students about the conferences where I speak and tell them I'll give them a gift for coming.
Kompes: What do you consider to be your greatest online program success?
Dr. Shaw: The man who blinked at the computer to write poetry and got it published, the agoraphobic who left her house after 25 years, the woman who was considering taking her own life and through me posting something and our director contacting someone for her to talk to the woman didn't take her own life. And the woman who was autistic and it was the first time she'd ever taken a class. She used some type of computer facilitated software. People who have tragedies in their lives and are writing about them. I have a woman who is 96 who grew up in abject poverty and went on to work her way through college and became a high school principal. She wrote a book about her life because of my course and is sharing the profits to help other students go on to college. Like I said, it's not about me. I don't know any of these people; it's like being blind which is good. The success is the success of the learners. If one person has been helped in the six or seven years it's alright, it's worthwhile.
[Interview with Eva Shaw, Ph.D. conducted via phone by Gregory A. Kompes, May 5, 2007.]
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Eva Shaw, Ph.D.
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