Evaluation of particiaption
I find that teachers who are passionate about their job want very robust communication that is student driven. But just as we all know students have different learning styles we must remember students have different communication styles as well. Not all students are outgoing, talkative people who will reveal their thoughts regularly. I find that this can be disappointing for teachers, myself included. It is helpful to maintain a realistic mindset when evaluating participation. This is not to say that if there is low level participation we should just chalk it up to all of our students being introverts, but this is to say that maintaining a realistic outlook on just how much participation to expect is healthy.
Yaw,
I hope that we can have this rich discussion with our students in the online environment!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Kelly,
that is why I like these discussions. You always come across such challenging dilemmas in these discussions. Hopefully someone will jump in with a better approach as a solution.
June,
Let me throw this out there. . . . Do you think we use learning styles as a crutch for students to "not learn"?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Samuel, I agree, and that is one of the comments that I see students sharing in my evals. I am passionate about what I teach and have always loved teaching my subject. But over the years, I have had to adjust to the many types of learning styles so that students learn and are not just entertained.
Tonia,
You are right, how would you go about determining student learning styles?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I agree. Not all student have the same learning styles, and having the ability to distinguish those styles are valuable in an online environment.
