Big question, is there a point where the online learning environment is not best for the student? How do we advise them on this?
Thank you for your question, Renee. When students are forthcoming with their circumstances, I am accommodating. I cannot change deadlines, but I tell these students that I will accept what they submit when they are able to submit it through the end of the session. If the student happens to qualify for an incomplete extension beyond the end of the session, we discuss the conditions of the allowance that provides them with two extra weeks to submit their work. In any case, I am sure to comply with the university's rules and regulations.
Trista,
What happens to the students with disabilities who cannot meet you course expectations? Any extra time or assistance?
Renee Shaffer
Chastity - my employer also provides an indication in the class roster of those students with an identified disability. To be honest - and much to my embarrassment now that I think about it, I had never considered reaching out to such students on my own to learn more about their disability and ask what I could do to help them; although some students have reached out to me to provide this information of their own accord. So many rules and regulations in terms of laws, social convention, and even subjective personal preference surround this issue that I always hesitate to discuss it for fear of offending. However, a student must be self-identified for that notification to appear in our roster, right? It can only help both student and instructor to have an open discussion about it. Thank you for making that clear to me.
To ensure my courses are accessible to all students, I adhere to the very clear timeline and guideines established and published in each classroom by my university. All assignments and their due dates are posted before the course even begins and remain that way throughout the session. I post my course expectations before the class begins as well and post regular announcements to the classroom of important facts for students to know. All of my synchronous chats are recorded and archived. If the live chat transpires too quickly for any student, they may review the archive for the purpose of pausing, rewinding, and/or fast-forwarding as appropriate. I share a PowerPoint presentation during most synchronous chat sessions that outlines my discussion points during the chat as well as my notes and compleion checklist for each of the week's two assignments. In short, I do what I can with the technology I am given to reach all students to provide the same accessibility of information.
I attempt to offer the same content in a variety of ways and formats - readings, online interactives, videos. In other words, I provide a list of links around the same topic but presented in a variety of ways. The goal for the student is to use the links/references/videos to learn the content in whatever way works best for the student.
One of the things that helps me as an instructor is my college identifies the students with disabilities that are in our classes. They send us a notice prior to the beginning of the session letting us know that we have students with disabilities in our class. These students are identified with a wheelchair icon in front of their names and that is only for our eyes as instructors. We are asked to allow extra time for the students to submit their assignments. I also put messages on the online bulletin board about what we are going to cover during the week so the students will know ahead of time.
Chastity,
Thank you for reaching out to the students. They are sometimes hard to point out but we can make such a big difference in their perserving in higher education!
Renee Shaffer
In my institution, we know from the roaster who has been diagnosed with a disability. But, from what I learned in this class, there are 75% of students who have hidden disabilities.
For those students, I reach out to them early in the session to reassure and to get extra information from them to see exactly what their disability is and how I can help. I also allow them to submit their assignments early each week so I can provide them feedback. That way, they can re-do their assignments based on the feedback.
Emry,
Wonderful ideas! I love it that you send a welcome email as you are indeed correct, that it can help identify accessibility issues. It can also help the connection between the instructor and the student which can only be beneficial!
Renee Shaffer
Ms. Shaffer:
There are two main methods that I use to ensure that the course is accessible to students - one method occurs at the start of the online course, and the other method involves monitoring throughout.
During the first week, I believe that a Welcome e-mail can help to identify accessibility issues. Sending a welcome e-mail shows students that you will be using e-mail to communicate with them, and they can always voice concerns within the class. In addition, asking an open ended question gives the student a reason to reply to the e-mail, and they can voice concerns through this communication medium.
As the course is progressing, I also like to check the last login time for the student, if they have not submitted work on time. If a student has not logged in for awhile, this is a signal that I might have to call, or contact a Learning Adviser to ensure that the student's accessibility to the course is not compromised.
Cheers
Emry
Alfred,
Very good points. I especially like the idea about transcribing the text into the chat box. It doesn't have to be verbatim (that would be great) but the essence certainly.
Renee Shaffer
In chats, I make sure that if I am talking to the students verbally, I also transcribe it to text in the chat box. I also use PowerPoint so that students can follow along more easily and have slides to reference to what we are currently discussing.
Al
Stephanie,
It is good to hear that you allow the additional time. It can be so necessary and extremely helpful for them.
Renee Shaffer
We have been able to do large print books and reading software for students. I also allow additional time for assignments from these students.
Yvette,
Glad to know that you have helped students with disabilities and their different accomodations. Some need additional time, some need additional assistance. It all depends.
Renee Shaffer
Hello Renee:
students with disabilities, sometimes, require additional time to complete assignments. When students present to me with a need for more time, I allow them the additional time that is needed to ensure that they gain knowledge of that particular concept. we have built in extensin periods that allow students the ability to take a couple of days to ensure that they master the concept before moving forward.
Andrew,
But, if the instructor knew from the onset that they should make a transcript, it would alleviate headaches for everyone!
Renee Shaffer
Yes it is a little time consuming in that we have to write a transcript basically for every slide however once done we can keep reusing the transcript for future class sessions, as long as the objectives do not change.
Andrew,
Good idea. It is fairly easy to do as you initially make your PPT presentations.
Renee Shaffer
