Sheikh Tijan Drammeh With online teaching and learning constantly evolving, students’ expectations are also shifting, partly because of their familiarity with the Internet, and social media (with virtual everything-assistants, friends, followers, likes, viewers, etc.). Among these shifting expectations is the expectation for the teacher to become someone many online students are quite familiar with; a virtual assistant in the mold of Siri or Alexis. No one questions the resourcefulness of these virtual assistants, however, barely anyone advocates for outsourcing teaching to a virtual assistant (at least, not yet). Within this backdrop, the objectives of this presentation is two-pronged; remind online teachers the sanctity of the profession, and secondly, discuss best practicing in teaching and engaging online students mainly by maintaining one's identity as a teacher, even though many students come to expect a “virtual assistant”. The intended audience for this presentation is online teachers, all modalities; 100% online, technology enhanced, hybrid and blended course teachers. This presentation can also be beneficial to course designers.
