Clear expectations
Consistent Communication
Dr. Crews,
I don't think there is such a thing as over-communicating in teaching. However I am sure students would not agree. If they think it is redundant information, students are turned off. The trick is to figure out how to tell them several times without them knowing it!
Mary
Mary & Jennifer,
Thanks for keeping the conversation going through this forum. Nice job.
Mary,
Right on. Making sure your communication is clear and frequent are important aspects to learning. Making sure you provide communicaiton through email, announcements, or other methods is important. Thank you.
Patricia,
Yes, ensuring the students understand the expectations of the course and other aspects are important in the communication process. Thanks!
Hi Jennifer,
After reading your post and the ones previous to yours, it seems to me that every aspect of the classroom is very important for student success.
Mary
The two most important items in establishing a pattern in your classroom for your students are communicating and communicating in several different ways.
Some students read emails, some students read announcements and some listen to chats. It is important to repeat the same information in several different ways to make sure that you reach the entire class. What is so obvious to us as an instructor or administrator may not be to a student. Sometimes we forget that we are already familiar with the information!
You have to make sure that you are communicating clearly to the students and you have to allow them to ask questions and then reply so that they have the answers they need.
Reginald,
Excellent comments! You "get" the need for a pattern. I may have to borrow your comments! :)
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Lynn,
You are right, communicating expectations may be the most important thing you do!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Many of the responses have mentioned clarity, grading processes, and communicating. I believe this depends on the instruction and format of teaching. When teaching online clarity of expectations, guidelines and communication protocol are a few. Its important to me to establish with class what I expect in the way of public communications and private communications. Also, the level of respect for classmates in the discussion areas must be clear.
Reginald
I feel the most important guidelines are "communication" and "learning outcomes". On many surveys communication is usually the culprit to a breakdown in what you expect, and make you feel comfortable.
Clearly identified assignments and expectations.
Having a clearly outlined grading process.
I think it is important to be familiar with your students and their basic learning styles. You will approach a classroom of adults in a different fashion then a classroom of 18 year old first time Freshmen.
Also it is imperative to establish clear and concise guidelines allowing for timely submissions, assessment and feedback.
1. Clarity- I feel that not only should the pattern be clear, but it should be clearer and expressly stated, "You will notice . . ., we have done . . ., The routine we will use through each unit is . . ." I find that this helps my students as the pattern is clear to the teacher because we designed it, but might not be so obvious to the students.
2. Reassessment and Correction- The pattern should be intuitive. Rather than using the same pattern from semester to semester and from class to class, it is important to consider what has worked in the past without clarification and what many students have needed to be clarified. If it was unclear in the past, it may be time to change it, or eliminate it from the pattern.
I also feel on-line discussions are a great resource for students. I hold discussions each week but only a few students join in. Most of them prefer to call me when they have a question.
When establishing a pattern of teaching, two most important things to consider are:
1-Learning outcomes so students know where they are headed. Objectives must be clearly understood by students so they can understand what they are supposed to be learning.
2-Communication is essential in a teaching pattern. It shows the student you are there with them at all times and shows support as well. Many times students just don't understand a topic, if there is no communication between the student and Instructor the student will be lost.
I believe the two most important components an instructor should consider are communication and content delivery. Communication is a vital element within any type of classroom. However, it proves to be more critical in a virtual environment. Students need to know and understand the course objectives and course expectations at the very beginning of a module or course. Along with this information an instructor should post contact information, office hours, and live session times (if applicable). Routine reminders should be utilized throughout a course. These not only project a instructor’s presence, they inform the students of upcoming due dates and lesson plans.
This leads me into content delivery. The student learning outcomes (SLO’s), as well as SLO assessments play a vital role in content delivery. These provide a blueprint for the informant that needs to be presented. Equally important is how we help facilitate these outcomes and help our students to achieve mastery of the information being presented. We can utilize the following formats to asses our student’s learning: essay, test, student performance, survey, etc. If we are finding that the students are not gaining the knowledge that we would expect them to attain, this is where we would need to evaluate how the information is being delivered. Depending on the subject matter, adding a synchronous environment may be the difference between failing to reach our desired outcome and achieving the desired result. The assignments, discussion board topics and requirements, quiz format, and LMS could also be factors that could enhance or detract from content delivery.
Teaching is a very noble vocation. Instructors need to establish guidelines---expectations should be clearly defined.
Respect --btween instructor/student and student/ student.
The two things most students talk about are grades and why they did not receive the grade they think they deserve.
with online learning both of theses issues are more easily fixed. The guidelines are set out in the beginning and rubrics are used to make sure the student understands what the instructor is grading.
This makes why a non issue and the online environment allows for personal communication between the instructor and the student without distraction
