Beth Kerkove

I am your classic middle child/only girl in the family. I try really hard to avoid conflict at all costs. Do you have a tried and true method for helping deescalate conflicting in the quickest manner possible? Any advice is appreciated.

One of the things covered in this module was having synchronous chats occur one on one. What if I am not afforded that luxury and it is required that I do class wide synchronous chats? Is there a way to make them more interactive and more personal? Also, is there a way to encourage avoidant/dependent students to participate in the classroom discussions/chats? Is there some sort of "tangible" incentive that can be used? Ideas are welcome!

I know that I posted information in the last forum on technologies that help in the online classroom. I have a good idea for a bio maker. Try using prezi.com or jing (screencast.com). These are great tools to make your bio more interactive. I'd highly suggest trying it.

I've worked almost exclusively in online higher education. I am pretty familiar with the technology and ideas behind them. I'd like to share a few programs with you that are helpful to me in the online environment: Jing Animoto Edutopia.org These are helpful to me...and I think the they will be to you too.

One of the concepts that was discussed in this module was addressing students with reading and writing deficiencies. It's often easy to spot these students, but sometimes even very basic writing instruction is not enough! Does anyone have any great tips on how to make connections to these students in ways that we can boost their learning and their writing level? I'd love to hear more information on how to do that!

In online education, student group projects can become cumbersome and lose a lot of value. Personally, I love collaboration and group work. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get more value out of student groups? In my main school, there is really no point value based on group work, so I need to have another way to make it important for participation. All ideas are welcome!

One thing I would like to find out more on how to do is creating memorable examples in English related classes. It’s not easy to always find a good relation to a complex grammar idea. If there is any more information out there on this topic, I’d like to find it! Any advice here?

One hard thing for me is to walk the fine line between babying adult learners and being empathetic. One section of this module talked about the characteristics of a motivating instructor. The traits they included were offering expertise, having empathy, showing enthusiasm, and demonstrating clarity. This is a good list for me. I am great at offering expertise and not too bad at enthusiasm and clarity, but it’s the empathy area that I have the most trouble with. I am afraid that students will take advantage of that. Does anyone have any advice for me on this area?

Greetings all, One of the major areas that I have issues with in this section is reducing the pressure I put on myself. I like to tell my students if don't know an answer, I will figure it out for them. But, my major problem lies with feeling inadequate. I want to maintain a professional image and the respect that they have for me. I am a young educator and I already can feel intimidated. Does anyone have ANY advice for me? Thanks for your advice!