Teaching Online Course
When teaching your own online course, what do you believe are the three most important things to consider?
Alfretta,
The syllabus is an important communication tool for the online environment (or any teaching/learning environment). And, providing content in a variety of ways helps all learning styles. Thanks!
Three important things to consider when teaching an online class includes:
Learning Style
Some students learn best by listening; some are visual learners, so they need to see material referenced and explained in some visual forms; and others are experiential learners, so they need not only to write things down, but also to work with the material at hand.
Content
Communicate content of classroom through constant communication and interaction with
students. Also having student conduct some research and analysis in the discussion
questions to foster critical thinking is an important aspect of class content.
Material
Having a syllabus as an outline of the class to include such things as assignments, grading rubric, class goals and objectives, etc. Also e-books should be available to students for
use in completing classroom activities.
Zakaria,
The peer learning is a new topic to this forum. Thanks for "spelling that out" and sharing with others. Communication and time management are essential as well. Thanks again.
I believe that the three most important things to consider when teaching an online course: Peer Learning, How to Communicate With Students, and Time Management.
Peer learning is one of the biggest assets of online education, and that professors working in the online environment should capitalize on it. As an Instructors I should have the skills to not only be a good facilitators but have the “know how" to get students start conversations and share experiences.
Deciding how to communicate with students is critical when there are many avenues for communication available to an online instructor, so it’s critical that the right one is chosen for a given type of information. An effective communication is important and instructors play a critical role in student engagement and retention
As for Time Management, we all know that students can run into trouble and need guidance at any time of the day, meaning that online teaching requires a fair amount of flexibility and a willingness to stretch work hours well outside of the traditional boundaries.
Alan,
Important list. Providing content in a variety of ways is essential. And, the more we understand and get to know our students, the better we can do this. Connecting the assignments/projects to the objectives, as you said, is also essential. Nice job.
1) Do the assignments meet course objectives. Do they teach important concepts and skills that will further the knowledge and ability required by the IT profession.
2) Are the assignments clear enough and researchable enough for basic students and expansive and challenging enough for advanced students so that all can benefit.
3) Do I include a variety of means to engage my students and foster a sense of community and shared purpose. Elements include individual and group assignments, discussion boards/wikis, and labs.
Patricia,
Sounds like you have a good system going for you. I think the coffee house idea is one many online instructors can use. Thanks for your input.
1. I always set up a “Coffee House†discussion board in the course room. This is the first thing I check when I “go to schoolâ€. Any response I give here will be seen by a variety of students pretty quickly. I am happy to answer questions over and over here – anything that helps!
2. I think each student should receive at least one email message for each unit. I send out an invitation to the chat session to the entire class each week. I also believe that each student should receive a personal communication directly from me at least a couple of times. I have recently added a personal communication to the students doing well. This is just to let them know that I recognize their work in addition to the grade.
3. I require is that students use the eBook provided for the class. I place this information in each of my announcements. I add the statement every time I give feedback to students either in the discussion or in the grade book to every student who needs the reminder. I model the use of the eBook in my announcements and notes.
Jonida and Nicole,
Good information and questions. It's good to put "rules/regulations" in the syllabus for RESPECT. I even saw a syllabus once that had a word for each letter in RESPECT and they all related to respecting each other and other's ideas. Making the rules/regulations and expectations clear to the students and enforcing them is also essential.
Nicole,
I really enjoyed reading your post. How do you ensure that the environment is non-hostile?
Thanks
Jonida
Perry ,
Yes, I agree. Clarity is important in helping the students understand the expectations and reach the learning outcomes. Thanks for your input.
Perry ,
Repetition is good. Accessibility is important to provide students the opportunity to learn on their own time and through many technology tools to help them achieve the learning objectives. Nice job.
Angie,
I think you are correct that the clarity of expectations has to be considered, and the syllabus should include the expectations to help students understand:
1. Conduct guidelines
2. Assignments and grading
3. Academic policies regarding integrity or attendance
If those elements are present, then students have clearness about what is expected at the start of the classes to do well in the discussions and assignments. The expectations allow for a professional environment that is friendly to be present and of comfort.
I appreciated reading your reply.
Sincerely, Perry Spann
Greetings!
I may seem repetitive based on my ideas about authoring courses, but similar contexts apply when teaching my online courses. When teaching online courses, I believe the three most important things to consider are:
1. The preparation of the audience to complete the coursework well so that I communicate effectively and use technology for assistance properly.
2. The accessibility of the course content so that students can easily use the course assessments, tools, materials, or resources.
3. The curriculum objectives and course policies being clear in the syllabus since the syllabus is the guiding document, ethically, with the information needed to do well in the course.
Sincerely, Perry Spann
Cheryl,
You are so right! Students do appreciate clear, timely feedback. It helps them improve. Nice job.
I have found that very clear feedback is one of the areas that I tend to see mentioned in most of my End of Course Surveys. The students really appreciate the good and the bad, in my opinion. I try to sandwich the bad within the good. But feedback shows that I really took the time to evaluate the assignment, what I appreciated most about the student's work, and what can be improved upon in the future. I love it when I see the student take the feedback to heart and improve steadily throughout the course.
Clear directions are very important as well. If a few students have the same questions about an assignment, I realize that some tweaking must be done in the explanations.
Finally, showing my personality is important for me. If the students can see that I am a real person, who can sometimes be funny, always be reliable and available, they feel less isolated online.
Lisa,
Knowing the learning objectives ourselves and communicating those expectations to the students is vital. We all have to be "on the same page" to excel.
Thanks for your input.
Three things to consider when teaching an online course is to have objectives, create and know the expectations of students and to provide a means for communication throughout the course.
Lisa,
We have to have the knowledge-base to help the students learn an improve. That is the first place to start. Thanks for your input.
