The document describes the author's experience developing and teaching their first online course based on the monomyth or hero's journey structure. They were initially reluctant but were convinced by their chair who offered support from instructional designers. While there were technical challenges, the author ultimately found the experience positive and learned that they could teach online effectively and reach more students, so they decided they would be open to teaching another online course in the future.

1. Teaching online for the first time
A first hand experience with the
monomyth structure

2. Departure
The journey begins

3. Call to adventure
My chair (in 2004):
“Students need courses this summer!”
“We need you to teach something!”

4. Refusal of the call
Me:
“Gee, no thanks.”
“I really don’t want to teach this summer.”

5. Supernatural aid
My chair:
“The students really need courses. They need
access”
“How about doing an online course?”
“The faculty resource center staff will help you
develop it.”

6. Threshold guardians
Me: Yeah, I don’t know. There are soooo many
reasons not to:
I don’t have time to develop an online course.
I don’t have great tech skills.
Who would own the course anyway? Aren’t there
some intellectual property issues involved if I work
with FRC?

7. Threshold crossing
Me:
Oh all right. The students need a course.
Summer pay wouldn’t be bad.
I’ll try to figure out the time to give this online
teaching thing a whirl, if someone will help me!

8. Initiation
Trials and tribulations

9. Challenges and temptations
Rats, I can’t get this flipping file to upload!
Oh no, the tech crashed an students can’t access
it the course.
What do you mean your tech support people
don’t work on nights and weekends? Our
students have full time jobs and only can work
on nights and weekends!!!
So not loving this! Don’t think I’ll do this again!

10. The ultimate boon
Woo hoo!
We made it through after all!
Despite the technical glitches, it really was a
pretty good course…

11. Return
The way back…
or is it the way forward?

12. Crossing of the return threshold
Learned a bit there…
Think I can make it better next time….

13. Freedom to live
Ok, so teaching online was not the worst thing I
could have done there.
Ok, so the course was even good.
And I had students enroll who I would not have
done otherwise.
Yeah, I’ll teach another online course….
Sometime….

14. Full circle
Completion of the monomyth cycle

15. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heroesjourney.svg

16. ACOUSTIC BLUES by Jason Shaw is licensed under a Attribution
3.0 United States License.
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Ac
oustic/ACOUSTIC_BLUES____2-32