Teaching online has several positive aspects. Here are a few taken from the Teaching and Learning Online: Communication, Community and Assessment, a handbook for UMass faculty published by the University of Massachusetts:
Teaching online courses can
- Offer the opportunity to think about teaching in new ways: Online teaching can allow you to experiment with techniques only available in online environments, such as threaded discussions and webliographies
- Provide ideas and techniques to implement in traditional courses: Online email discussions, a frequently-used practice in online learning, can be incorporated into traditional courses to facilitate group work. Other techniques, such as web-based course calendars and sample papers posted on the internet (with student permission) can easily be incorporated into a traditional course.
- Expand the reach of the curriculum: Online teaching can expand existing curriculum to students on a regional, national, and international level.
- Professional satisfaction: Teaching online can be a enormously rewarding experience for teachers. Teachers often cite the diversity of students in online courses as one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching online.
- Instructor convenience: Teaching online can offer teachers conveniences not available in traditional classroom settings; for example, at-home office hours and flexible work schedules.
I would like to add to the above advantages that teaching online can provide research and collaboration opportunities. In addition, the online faculty at Xavier is a very collegiate and congenial group and working with them is another source of satisfaction!
It's interesting to read more of the University of Massachusetts' Teaching and Learning Online Handbook.