As I was pondering these questions regarding  my motivation for teaching an online course this summer, the answer was really two fold. First, much like Trisha stated…our boss! She entrusted me with the task of developing a hybrid course for our adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner students this fall, which to me was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Mostly because I am not very adept at computers and navigating the online world, let alone developing a new course from scratch. So, I knew first and foremost that I was going to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and saturate myself with enough resources ie. this course and Leah! and hopefully gain some knowledge by osmosis or actually getting my head around these concepts! Second,is that I am not ignorant to think that if our program does not begin to move into the online world, we will not be able to compete with other programs that offer online options for the busy nursing student.
I am hoping to impact my students in the online world, much like I do in the traditional world by engaging, inspiring and then empowering them to go off and be safe medical providers. In the traditional setting, I believe it is much easier to do that because the interaction is face to face and leaves no room for interpretation of tone etc. and allows for immediate feedback. In the online world, I will need to address those challenges by engaging the students in different mediums of communication using Voicethreads and videos, Scholarblogs (which once I get the hang of it, will be great!) and diigo, which will allow them to build a bibliography of evidenced-based research within our field., in addition to having very timely feedback, along with weekly video conferences, which helps to stay connected to the student.
One of my biggest concerns teaching an online course is the students will understand the nuances of the technology, much better than myself.  Therefore, I am trying to close the gap by actively engaging myself in this course and taking advantage of any other resources, so I can be successful. In addition, I am hoping that I have the time and understanding, while taking this course, to actually take a step back from deadlines, readings and assignments and begin to construct a usable product for the students this summer.