Breezy,
You are right! That has to be state upfront and it must be repeated throughout the course.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
mary,
Nice idea. A template would work well. I also provide successful papers and not so successful papers to help guide them.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Charlene,
Great post! I have also used premade YouTube clips to help reinforce the APA standards. I also use the Purdue Online Writing Lab. It is great!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I believe that the best way to get better in these areas is to give honest feedback. The goal is to witness the students improve and to give them all of the tools they need to be successful
I include writing guidelines in my announcements and faculty expectations. Also, a process for writing that corresponds to the assignments is providing during the weekly live chats. Students are provided with examples of the discussion board assignments to give them and idea of what is expected for the first 3 weeks. The goal is for students to use the guidelines provided, then proceed without examples the final 2 weeks of the course. Finally, detailed feedback is provided on their writing during the grading process.
I often find that students don't always come with the "basic skill set" that is required in online learning. I will often review and make corrections on the students paper without deducting points the first or second time. I will offer to work with the student to improve their writing skills on an individual basis, as this normally will involve one or two students in a course. I find that if I take an interest in the student they are appreciative and will accept my help. I also will in my first courses have a presentation that goes over topics such as citing, plagiarism, APA format, etc. I have found that if I inform the student up front of what is expected, they perform better in class.
I help students improve reading, writing and communication skills in the online environment by providing resources to help them improve.
I also take the time to correct major errors and I am careful to do this in private, by email or sometimes on a phone call.
I also let them know WHY I am correcting them, because as a business owner in addition to being an instructor, I let them know how quickly I will write off a candidate with bad grammar and communications skills. That information is usually what gets their attention.
Wow, this is an interesting topic because when I first became an online instructor, I had the challenge of helping students improve their writing skills. I had no idea what to do! After consulting with some of my colleagues, I starting rewriting some of my students essays, with the correction tool in Microsoft Word. Yes, it took some time, but it was worth it to see how much my students improved!
I help students improve these skills by providing them with examples and a clear list of expectations in this area.
In order to improve reading, writing, and communication skills I give continual assignments that address these skills. Practice, practice, practice...it's the quantity of behavior that will eventually improve the quality of the results.
I think that it’s very important that as an online instructor that you state in the beginning of the course that communication should be very clear to the instructor and also to other students. It's very easy to have an issue when it comes to communicating via email or chats within an online course. I always express to my students to email me if he or she has a question, reach out to their fellow peers, and make sure that he or she engage within the discussion board and chat sessions. Also, it’s important to let the students know as well that appropriate netiquette should be used at all times during the online course.
I encourage students to use templates created specifically for the classes I teach. These templates are pre-formatted and they have specific headers. This format allows the student to see how a paper is properly organized and formatted so that they can follow this protocol for future classes. I also encourage visiting labs created specifically for students with writing/referencing challenges. This seems to work quite well, and students appreciate the extra guidance as well.
Usually by the time the student has reached my class they have had a general English course. However, my class includes several essays each week. I post an example of an APA formatted essay that includes how to cite/format different reference sources. I also post a document that explains what plagiarism is and how to paraphrase their research.
Michelle,
Well, you know a teacher is much like a magician :). I do know that when you set expectations that are high but reachable for students they will achieve and be proud of it!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Thank you so much Dr. Wilkinson. I definitely try to pull several “rabbits out of my hat†when I am teaching. If it even reaches one student that I may have lost it is worth it.
Michelle,
What a great post and what great ideas. I like the different ways you interact with your students through your online course.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
How do you help students improve their reading, writing, and communication skills?
When a student first enters my class, I offer many resources that will assist them with their writing and communication skills. I use this as a resource foundation for them so they always have a place to go if they need help and I am not readily available to them. I also feel many students learn best by following an example. I make a concerted effort to model effective communication. They can also see a variety of writing styles I my employ through personal feedback, communication, and discussion board posts.
I also feel many students learn so much from their classmates. This is where discussion boards can really come in handy. At the beginning of the class we can keep it a bit informal and use an introduction discussion for students to see many different writing styles. I have also used the approach of having students provide a summary of a particular assignment. This is incredibly useful and allows students to see the same information from a myriad of views and presented in different ways.
I love the idea of peer review, but not all programs or course material truly lend to this. I think this would be a great way for students to gain constructive feedback from their peers. In my experience, sometimes this kind of feedback is more effective coming from a peer rather than their instructor.
Lastly, I like to utilize screen casting to help students that may need a little extra help in some of these areas. They can hear my voice and see my screen as I walk them through some basic fundamentals of writing and communication. I can also offer tips and strategies for reading comprehension as well. When a student can hear my voice and see what I see I have found this increases the sense of community within the classroom and the student does not feel as alone.
Zakevia,
I also try to provide resources for students to use. Grammar Girl is a great resource to use for help with mechanics of writing.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Hello to all,
How do I help students improve their reading, writing and communication skills? To begin, for every class that I teach, I incorporate at minimum two writing assignments. One in the early stages of the course and a second writing assignment mid-way. By doing so, the first assignment students are evaluated on their writing skills, directed to writing resources and other references and the second assignment will serve as a gauge of their improvement from the first assignment. In addition, I also allow for at least one writing assignment for the student to select their own topic of choice. When this occurs, you receive papers based on one's since of passion, interest and curiosity.
Zakevia
Paula,
Do you use that phone or send emails? I agree feedback is so important.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
