I believe when you are establishing a teaching pattern that you should have a clear picture of your expectations of the class and the students. You should tell students from the beginning what you expect of them. You should also set up rubrics to let students know what you expect of them out of each assignment. That way they are not lost when they start an assignment and wondering what they should do.
I liked your reply to this forum. In establishing quality healthcare delivery I teach that there are four elements to providing quality care whether as a direct provider or administrator/manager: Communication, coordination, collaboration, and continuity of care. Each of these are important for students to learn as they progress through individual assignments, group projects, or working with me as a mentor.
I agree with those colleagues that emphasize the importance of clear statements of expectations and tips for success in the course. Syntax, spelling, critical thinking, formatting, etc. are all important and should be appreciated by the students.
In my healthcare field the two most important items for me to understand and the students to reflect on are 1. A statement of their prior or current healthcare experience. This is generally through their introductions and gives me a level of their understanding and anticipation of their contribution. 2. Again through their introductions, what are their aspirations. Some are looking for advancement in their current positions or they may want to change careers. This provides me and others in the class insight about lecture content and the level of specificity to our course direction.
As a side note, during the course orientation I offer a personal letter of recommendation to any student requesting such and who has achieved an A grade. This has been a popular incentive for my students. They also have access to me by phone to discuss career objectives and assignments.
Tony,
I agree with you. Student centered still means student responsible. I think we do relieve them of responsibility and that is our fault!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Tony,
You make great points. Communication is the cornerstone of good/great online teaching. I think we underestimate the importance of consistency. It provides confidence and relief to our online students. Good post.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
For each assignment I provide a grading rubric which specific expectations, point distributions as well as tips/hints. That is my routine. I remind them of this via announcements and emails. Despite all my communication some students don’t read the rubric. They attempt assignments without understanding how they are going to be evaluated.
At some point there has to be individual accountability.
Sometimes I feel we can do students a real disservice by relieving them of their responsibility to read announcements and instructions.
I believe the two most important things to address are consistency and communication.
Communication is a critical factor in most any environment. In education, it’s critical for students to understand where they are at, where they need to be and how well their journey is progressing.
Consistency is important because it enables the student to focus more on content learning than on the learning process itself. The other extreme of the spectrum, randomness, can be distracting because it can take time to try to make sense of things.
Dennis,
True, the course design plays such an important role in the online teaching pattern. Students become involved in the routine of the course as the design helps them navigate learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Kym,
You may have to drive the students to look at them. I find they are so used to asking and getting that they don't use the talents of looking things up like they should. You should continually drive a student to look at the information. I try not to provide them the answer.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Tina ,
What a great post. You make a great point. Communication will teach students how to pace themselves and make those linkages with content. The teaching pattern force interaction with others.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Ramonica,
I agree with you. Communication drives the content delivery. The role students play in the communication is so important.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
It is key to create student engagement and utilize the best tools to help students learn the material and create authentic products. This, of course, is predicated upon designing a course that students can understand the goals and have a clear path through the course on how to meet these goals.
I agree that it is frustrating to do all the posting of rubrics and they still don't take advantage of the information. I post detailed (question by question with points assigned) rubrics for the entire class the first week of class. Then weekly I re-post the rubrics for that week's assignments and encourage student to print them off and check each item off as they complete it so that they can be sure that they don't miss anything. Sure enough, they still do miss one or more questions.
I am going to try emailing them each week now to see if that helps.
When establishing a pattern of teaching, two important considerations would be to present the learning materials in an organized way and to present them in a timely fashion. New learning material, announcements, and further resources should be presented at the beginning of the week.
Secondly, being active in the course on strategic days allows for effective monitoring of course postings. Being mindful that portions of the course may be synchonized on a specified day allows for interaction with all the participants. When teaching involves an asynchronized approach, allows for the monitoring of posting as well as identifying students that are not participating.
Tina Means
Tina Means
I truly believe two of the most important things consider is communication and content delivery.
Communication is very vital and as long as it is clear, the student understands what is expected of them. Content delivery is important because it contributes to the aspect of how the student learns the information.
In this respect, it's important to understand the five principles of teaching adults. It's important to know how adults learn. Adults learn best when: They understand why something is important to know or do, they have the freedom to learn in their own way, and learning is experiential. Respect that Your Students Have Different Learning Styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Visual learners rely on pictures, and one can best communicate with them by providing handouts, writing on the white board, and using phrases like, “Do you see how this works?†Auditory learners listen carefully to all sounds associated with the learning, and one can best communicate with them by speaking clearly, asking questions, and using phrases like, “How does that sound to you?†Kinesthetic learners need to physically do something to understand it, and one can best communicate with them by involving volunteers, allowing them to practice what they’re learning, and using phrases like, “How do you feel about that?†Allow Your Students to Experience What They’re Learning. Experience can take many forms. Any activity that gets your students involved makes the learning experiential. This includes small group discussions, experiments, role playing, skits, building something at their table or desk, writing or drawing something specific – activity of any kind. Activities also keep people energized, especially activities that involve getting up and moving about. The other aspect of this principle is honoring the life experiences your students bring to the classroom. Be sure to tap into that wealth of wisdom whenever it’s appropriate.
Jonida,
You are right. There is comfort in consistency and with routine. That is no different in an online course.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Kenneth,
You make great points. You are right, you set the expectations but you also have to conduct the course consistently. Great point.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Perry,
I agree with your comments. I believe it is very imporant for the instructor to establish a clear pattern of behavior that students can learn and rely upon throughout the course.
Thanks
jonida
I think the two most important things to consider are:
1) Setting course expectations (e.g., what is grading based on) as well as how the class will be conducted (e.g., class procedures.
2)Best ways to communicate with the instructor and each other during the course.
Ken Burger
