Those are great ideas. I hope you don’t mind if I use them. I find I often have shy students in my class and I am always looking for ways to bring them out of their shell. The first thing I do in all of my classes is explain to them, if they are shy, they need to get over it. Plus I joke "there is no need to be nervous when talking in public, no one is listening to you anyway. Look half of you are not even paying attention to me now." By including humor in the class it loosens students up to feel comfortable to talk in the class.
First and foremost, the process in which an instructor begins the course sets the tone for the student. Learning their name, finding out something about their back ground, and identifying an expectation of the course assist the instructor. In addition, looking for ways to get students to understand how each member of the class plays an important role in the class. The ability to demonstrate each student's role in the development of the "team" contributes to a feeling of comfort and involvement for each individual.
Hi Lucy,
The key is to involve everyone and you are doing that with your questioning method. This way the class can get comfortable with discussing and contributing to the topics and issues related to them.
Gary
I make sure that I ask everyone questions during class. I am fortunate that I have small class sizes, the most students I have had is 24. But the majority of my classes are 10 - 12 students. So it is easier to include everyone. I always go around the room and have students take turns working out problems.
Greeting everyone as they arrive to class I think is the first thing that makes a student feel apart of the class. During group projects I visit with each group and make sure everyone is taking a part.
I think using andragogy-based pedagogical practices such as including adult life and professional experiences relevant to course material as valid discussion points is a useful approach to making students feel like a central part of the class.
Email and IM are great mechanisms to communicate with students. They tend to use email when they have questions and/or concerns. IM is available but I have found that fewer students use this. Not sure why. When student contact us using these methods, it does give us an opportunity to respond and to offer encouragement.
Donte, I too use the Socratic method. This approach really helps students to consider their answers and to internalize the material. It is also a great idea to present scenarios. This helps students envision what could happen in the real-world and allows them to develop their approaches on how to handle the situation.
When teaching online, it can be challenging to reach out to students. One does not have eye contact and cannot see clues about whether they are comfortable or not via body language. However, when one can interact with them in an online chat, one can present material and ask them questions about the content. If one student answers a question, I always ask the other attendees if they would like to add or have questions. I always use their name and comment anytime they have something to say. If the individual has technical problems during the chat, when they return I acknowledge that they were missed and let them know I was happy that they were able to return. I think that this helps in making them feel comfortable.
Hi Erin,
Way to involve all students while keeping the entire class engaged. By drawing out the card you are letting them know you are looking forward to their contribution to the class at that time.
Gary
To make all the students feel a part of the class, I use index cards (with their name) and randomly pick from the pile, so students feel the need to pay attention and participate, because they never know when their card is going to be picked. This way everyone in the class gets to tell a personal story related to the subject matter and get involved.
Students will feel like they're more a part of the class when they're given acknowledgment & praise. They need to know that they're doing a good job, and providing that reassurance makes students feel like they're really a part of the class.
It is easy in a kitchen teaching setting to get a student to be envolved as it is require but it is harder to get them to engage. One way is to have a student have responsibilities during the class time. One of the things I do is I have students help with Demonstrations as I teach the method.
I encourage students to participate during our lecture sessions. I like to ask a lot of quesitons to the class to provide them the opportunity to think on the topic and then expound upon it. I also provide scenarios that they can apply the informaiton so they can bring forward their knowledge and expertise on the subject.
I try to involve my students. Rather than open a lecture with a statement, I like to ask a relevant question relating to the topic and then encourage class discussion. This often leads to the students themselves acknowledging the relevance to their chosen field based either on previous experience or expectations for the career for which they are preparing.
Hi Morris,
This keeps the students focused on you because they know they may be called on at any moment. I am sure you have their attention.
Gary
let them know that their oppinions matter.
When there are no takers to answer a question i pull a name from the roll and try to get them involved in the class
Hi Julie,
You are doing a number of very good things in terms of trying to create a learning community online. The meet and greet is a good way to kick off a new course.
I don't have a host of strategies I can share with you. I am still working on different ways of helping the class to "gel" myself. I do a lot of one on one communicating and follow up and this helps a lot. All of us that teach online are still refining the "human" side of online teaching in conjunction with the actual content. We have a ways to go. By continually talking with each other and sharing what works we will be able to learn how we can draw our students into the class setting in a much more personal way.
Gary
When I taught in a traditional "brick and mortar" institution, I had great camaraderie between students in my classroom. I used lots of activities and discussion and group work in order to facilitate these connections between students.
What has been much more difficult for me is now I am teaching in an online environment, and creating these sorts of bonds, while not impossible, is challenging. We have a "meet and greet" and I encourage participation in our live chats, but it's still not the same as face-to-face interpersonal communication.
Gary, do you have any ideas about how to encourage a connected classroom environment in an online setting?
