Adding A Personal Touch

I had traditional teacher friends in college and as an adult and one of the biggest things they discussed was how they were going to decorate their classrooms that year, what themes they would incorporate, and what craft projects they were undertaking in order to add a little extra to their classrooms.

I won't lie, I never understood it.

Until I took a class on creating a presence in an online class environment. I won't lie, it was insanely difficult to make a Blackboard or Moodle "class" feel like me, or represent my personality. And I struggled with the why, until it truly started to come together. Not just the look, adding colors or font choices, or incorporating Calvin and Hobbes comic strips to announcements. It was more about jumping into an online environment and having it feel warm. Why? Because the underlying message that the overall feel conveyed was one that would keep you there longer. An inviting, fun, and interesting online environment can be the difference in engaging with the content and just jumping through the hoops with the bare minimum. It's a gauge of "how much effort did they put in" and it helps dictate "how much effort I'm willing to put in, too."

Having one room you call home for a school year must be that much more crucial to create a sense of place.