Tina Stavredes

Hi Zulema, would you take just this one learner's recommendations or would you send out an email to all students asking for their opinion on discussion topics? Tina

Hi Srabasti, I agree with you that it is critical to be proactive in reaching out to learners to help them re-engage. Tina

Hi Srabasti, it is really important to be proactive and reach out to learners because many times they won't reach out to you when they begin to struggle. Tina

Hi Carol, I agree. I am at an institution that is completely online and many times I have reached out to learners and recommended a more traditional learning environment that is f2f to support their learning needs. I wish you the best as you begin teaching online. If you need any advice in the future, feel free to reach out to me: tina.stavredes@capella.edu Tina

Hi Glenn, I think you make some very important statements about setting expectations. Can you give some examples about how you demonstrate professionalism to students? Tina

Hi Srabasti, I have a faculty expectation template with a number of different ideas for what to include in your faculty expectation statement. I am having a problem including an attachment to my reply, so please email me at tina.stavredes@capella.edu and I will send it to you. Tina

Hi Esther, I think this is a good way to manage this situation. Most of the time, learners just want to be heard, so if you can ensure they are being heard and help him understand the relevance of the discussion, you should be able to resolve the problem. Tina

Hi Iris, these are excellent responses to learners. If Kathy is accurate with her evaluation of her performance, you may have to probe her to determine what the issue is and also encourage her to reach out to you before she submits an assignment instead of struggling alone. It is important that they understand that you are there to support them. Tina

Hi Iris, yes, we work on social presence, cognitive presence, and instructor presence. One of the things we have been doing is using a casual discussion area called the "psychology cafe" where early on in the course faculty try to engage learners in low stakes [non graded] discussions to try to build relationships with learners. We are hoping that this will impact learners who are struggling and end up dis-engaging fromo the course. Because they have developed a relationship with the instructor, we are hoping they will be more likely to reach out when they need help. Tina

Hi Iris, I agree! One of the strategies that I have instructors use when there are many learners in the course is weaving. I have them go into the course at least three times during the week and summarize, re-direct, and otherwise ignite the discussion. This helps reduce the amount of interaction required in the discussions and instructors can focus more on their individual feedback to learners. Tina