A lot of people, including a lot of college educators, never stop to think about what constitutes education. If we believe our primary value lies in standing at the front of a room and transmitting information, we are in trouble, because at least since the Gutenberg press, there are easier, faster, cheaper, more efficient ways to transmit information. Our students are also in trouble, as is our culture and society. But when we realize what education actually is, we recognize that information is simply the tool of education.

We will use a process called Think, Pair, Share. Helps the introverts form their thoughts and fully participate, and the extroverts to also work to their strength and polish thoughts.

If you're in a larger group, share your stories again. It may be you want to tell the same story you shared with a partner, or you may want to share something you heard (encourage your partner to tell it). There won't be time to share everyone's, but a) the larger group will benefit from hearing a few stories from others, and b) in the process of readying your story for the large group (whether you get to tell it or not), you will think about it more deeply.

What was the overall nature of the stories? What did they share? Really, did anyone ever say, "Dr. Whatsisname was my favorite because he delivered so much information"? Those teachers we view as effective are seldom, if ever, simply pipelines.

This quote often gets misattributed to William Butler Yeats. There is no evidence he ever said this, and the actual original source has disappeared into the fog of the past. But it is a point still worth making. "Out loud" (whether it is delivered face-to-face or via a web page) excels at setting context, setting a framework, helping students make sense of detail (rather than simply delivering detail), and inspiring them to want to learn the material. Written (in the form of a textbook, a handout, or a web page) material excels at helping students master detail. But they won't master the detail until someone (i.e., the teacher) motivates them and gives them a reason to want to master it.

We have identified four areas or factors that make teachers essential to the learning process, whether they teach online or face-to-face. This first one is the foundation factor, the one that makes the other three work. Teaching is interaction. It is not a one-way delivery of information, but more like a conversation, even if students aren't actively talking. In the classroom, for instance, you watch for body language and other indications whether students are "getting it" or not. You look for other clues online. But there is the sense of presence that students get from interaction with their teacher.

Apply Think--Pair--Share to whatever degree you can to think of a time when interaction made the difference to you in learning, whether you were the teacher or the student. Take the time, at least, to engage the first part: think. Write down the story.

When you say "assessment" around most teachers and administrators, they think "grading" or something similar. That may be a part of assessment as we mean it, but it is only part. "Assessment" in this context means testing or checking the student's learning, feeding back to the student your assessment, and helping them figure out what to do with that assessment--and then repeating the process.

Think of a time when your assessment (in an interactive way) was the key to learning, either as a student or as a teacher.

Most of us have heard the old saw about the sage on the stage vs. the guide on the side. But effective education requires more than simple guidance. A sherpa is someone who does more than show the way. A sherpa knows the danger points, knows the various paths (more than one way to get there), evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of his charge and makes decisions about direction and pacing, etc.

Think of a time when you (as a teacher) or someone else (as a teacher) acted as a sherpa.

The mentor goes beyond information and guidance. The mentor has a sense of when to prod, when to push, how far to push before the student gives up, etc. Think of Yoda in the Star Wars sagas.

Think of a time when you acted as a mentor to someone, or when someone acted as a mentor to you.

Some people assume online classes can't do any of this, but in fact they can. The teacher simply has to take different steps to accomplish it, as does the student.

Just because a teacher is in the same space with students does not automatically mean interaction occurs, much less any of the three roles that depend on interaction.

Among all the factors that we might compare from class to class, there is only one thing that is unique. The students change, the textbook changes, the thousands of outside factors like weather and economic circumstances change, the delivery method changes. The syllabus and textbook and supporting material might be technically the same across various sections of the same course, but with vastly different results. The one factor unique in all of this is YOU. It's also the one thing you have a fair degree of influence over. So it is where you are likeliest to make a difference.

College faces great danger today. Consider the efforts high schools face to standardize; consider the effects of the movement that many of us now refer to as No Child Left Untested. Consider the pressure to drop "impractical" liberal arts courses and simply focus on courses that lead to getting a job. The CEO of a high-tech firm once told me that though he hires college graduates, it's not because of their knowledge, since the first thing he has to do is re-teach them programming (it's guaranteed their knowledge is out of date). "I can teach them to program," he said, "but I can't teach them to show up to work on time. I can't teach them to set long-term goals and put up with the frustration of pursuing them." He said that if "we" give into the pressure to streamline and eliminate history and composition and math, then businesses will no longer need college graduates. But when we don't communicate clearly what college is for, and WHY it helps people get jobs (and be better citizens, and more effectively functioning human beings), we increase the danger of both rendering our efforts useless and contributing to the demise of true education.

I'm working on an book that expands these ideas. I would really like to use your stories (along with mine) to make this case. If your story gets used, I will send you a free copy of the ebook version when it is done. Right now, just email me at speakwrite@donnellking.com or dking@pstcc.edu. Soon, I will have an online form to make submitting your stories easy, so check back here, and bookmark http://donnellking.com/ to see announcements as the book develops.