ROBERT,
I think it is smart to meet with the student to develop an improvement plan to help students improve the skills that will make them successful in everything! Great strategy.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Natalie,
Your strategies are right on target. It is important that you have your students utilize the resources that are available to your students. You are to guide them to those resources. We have to be aware as instructor the need to teach students to use feedback for their improvement.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Albert,
Again, you are the facilitator. You want the student to be responsible and proactive in their learning needs.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Albert,
You have resources that will provide that needed extra help students needed. I applaud you for investigating the tools and knowing their roles in the learning process. Let the tools do what they can do and you can guide students to those tools that will address a student's specific need.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The first thing would be to assess where the student is at with respect to their reading, writing and communication skills. Based on the assessment I approach the students and ask what their challenges are. we then work out a plan to work on those skills where help is needed. eg one approach would be to help with edits and provide explanations on areas of improvement during the editing session. if the student is comfortable in a group setting giving the opportunity to worth together to improve each other's reading, writing and/or communication skills.
There are a few things that are already set up in the classroom itself that help with this. We have a writing lab where students can go for help; read some FAQ and get some 1:1 help from the librarians as well.
Our quizzes are written so that students can apply what they read, rather than memorize content and simply respond to a question. When I facilitate the weekly chats, I make sure to point out content from the textbook but then apply it to actual scenarios and real life examples, so that they can understand how to read more critically.
When students submit their Individual Projects, I correct them using the Track Changes option in Word. Rather than simply making the corrections on their papers (which I do, minimally), I also ask questions to get the students to think about their writing, prompting for more detail, clearer explanations, even grammar (what is the subject of this sentence...?).
I also give students an email etiquette handout at the beginning of the session. I tell them that is my standard, but encourage them to use it when communicating with all their instructors and fellow students. It is more about professionalism in writing than anything else.
Additional comments
I am allowed to provide a tutorial to any student as long as I do not provide the "answer" to an assignment.
The students have tutorials, tutors, and formative feedback to use to improve their reading and writing skills.
If a student informs me about a difficulty in reading the course materials, I request that the student meet me in live chat so that we read together the material that is difficult for them. If I can identify the problem, I will assist them by providing suggestions, or I will refer the student to a professional tutor for reading skills.
If a student informs me about a writing deficiency or I observe a writing deficiency in an assignment, I return the student's assignment with specific detailed comments, remarks, and suggestions for improvement. I do insist that the student utilize the learning labs and tutorials on writing skills.
I have reviewed my university's tutorials and learning labs for reading and writing.
I refer students to the writing labs and to the reading labs. If a student does not respond and attend, I can request assistance from the academic support to contact the student. There is more than one level of a learning lab for reading and for writing. The labs are also established to improve the reading and writing skills. A student can voluntarily assess that they wish to improve their reading or writing skills and engage a learning lab.
My primary concern is to observe the need for intervention as early in the course as possible. I can also provide some relief for the students by offering a change in the due date for an assignment.
Michael ,
You said the magic word: feedback. I am going to quit calling what I do grading I am going to say evaluating so students understand the importance of the feedback not just the grade.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
sydney,
What a great post!!!! You are right, you start with expectations and continually hold ALL students to those expectations. That also means that you guide and help them.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
When instructors assign readings, and written assignments that require students to describe and build on what they have read; and provide regular, clear and thorough feedback on how well they did; students can learn to communicate more effectively.
You help students improve their reading, writing, and online communication skills by clearly establishing what is expected. You must provide writing guides, explain issues such as plagiarism, and establishing a community of practice. Communication must be all encompasing because you can not meet witht he students face to face. You must establish that their may be more reading and writing in an online class then in a face to face class and provide students with tips to handle this. You must develop [articipation and engagement between students to establish the community so that the feel safe and trust each other and in turn can help each other.
Rick,
This is such a strong positive strategy. We have to model good online behavior that also models good professional behavior.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Willie ,
That is a great strategy. it is a great way to see how others communicate then they have to analyze the communication then communicate to others.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I model and set a good example. One area I can do this is in the feedback I provide on assignments. I try to be substantive with the feedback. Obviously, I attempt to use appropriate grammar. I also try to model the communciation process through Discussion Boards. I attempt to post each and every day. I also make it a point to respond to each student in the class. As with my feedback on graded assignments, I attempt to be thorough which suggests to my students the expectation level I have established for them. As educators it is true we battle the social media avenue and gadgets are students use more than face-to-face communication. In a traditional class setting, discussions and think tanks are excellent activities to promote engagement and interaction among learners.
One of things that I like to do is have students read selected material then discuss it in relationship to other books, movies, news items or TV shows. I like to have my students make the comparison. What did they like about how each format portrayed the topic? How would they have changed a format to better match the topic? What was the message the writers intended the reader/observer to get from the material? Being able to connect what has been read to something else in their lives helps students think abstractly about the material. I also encourage my students, as they work on their reading assignments, to write words or phrases down that they don’t understand and bring them to the live chat session so we can discuss them. :-)
Donald,
You are right. Although I have learned ( the hard way) that students don't know how to take feedback and change the way they write. I now have them create a plan to improve their writing based on my feedback. It does seem to help.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
When I was a teenager, I took a course in creative writing from Story Workshop , which was originally created by John Schultz here in Chicago. My actual teacher was Paul Pekin, and he has been my mentor for these some odd 50 years. Paul taught me how to write by having us do three things. First, we did an hour of work association games. The purpose of this exercise was to increase our creativity. Second, we told images. At the time, I only told one good image in six months. Third, we read from authors of his selection. The authors included Truman Capote, and I remember the title of the book, and it was The Speckled Bird. I can still remember some of the short stories from this book. The only way I really know how to teach someone to write is for them to write, and write and write. I know of no other way.
compreca,
Great ideas. You have to provided that important feedback. Have you tried to record your feedback as you look at the paper? Students really like it and it is simple to do.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Hello,
I try and provide as much feedback as possible on written assignments. Listing examples and not just corrections helps. I also encourage students to use the writing center. Thanks, Compreca
