Soft Skills & Online Learning
Other than respectful, courteous written exchanges, do you have suggestions for modeling soft skills to students engaged in an online program?
I currently work in a degree program that demands a great deal of interaction between students and clients. I'm really interested in your experience with integrating professional, verbal skills into an online environment.
Thank you.
Hi Bill,
Great advice about how to stay on top of student activity in an online course. It is easy to forget to sit down at the computer and work on the course due to other life pressures. The reminders really help the students to keep engaged and progressing. Your concern for their success is important as well and they know it through your communication with them.
Gary
Amy and Gary - emphasizing deadlines and due dates I have found to be crucial in online teaching. In the online environment, where many of the students are employed full-time and frequently managing a family life, it is far too easy to get behind on their work and frequently never get caught up. I emphasize the professionalism inferred in meeting deadlines just as if they were "on the job." I also set a goal for myself to contact each student by phone within the first two weeks of the term, and also use Eluminate-live sessions thorughout the term.
Hi Amy,
Some things I have done in this area is to work with students on deadlines. I use the online deadlines in much of the same way as being on time to class would be. The deadline for an assignment is at this time and the correspondence/project has to be filed at this time. Another is to have students develop profiles of customer service that reflects their prompt response, clear communication and accurate content.
I haven't come up with a verbal skill exercise as of yet with which I am totally satisfied that it measures what I want to measure. Still a work in progress.
Gary
