Peter,
Thanks for your input. It is great that you are thinking about your online course from the students' point of view. The most I have learned about teaching online was from taking an online course. Believe me, I learned what NOT to do and that's just as important as learning what TO do.
Thinking of the textbook and PowerPoint presentations and how to engage students is also essential. Right on!
Hi Dr. Crews,
In my opinion, the three most important things to consider when teaching my own online course are:
1) Immediately know or determine where are the students regarding the program itself. Are they new to online teaching, have they been through a few cycles already or are they almost done and ready to graduate? Their level of knowledge regarding the tools and resources necessary to successfully complete the course is extremely important.
2) How will the textbook assist you with the course? Maybe it won't at all and maybe it will be a huge asset. You can never assume that a power point presentation based off of each chapter in the book is going to stimulate an on-line student class.
3) How am I going to get the most out of each lecture and how will I attract the most students to attend live each chat session that I hold. Student interaction during live chats really engages them in your class as long as you are willing to allow them to interact with you in the first place.
Thank you,
Peter Bruvik
Esther,
You are a person of few words, butyou have encompassed the essence of this forum. Remember that communication is essential as you do all of the things you have listed.
Thanks!
Set expectationa
create learning environment
allow for scaffolding
grow to know your students
Jennifer,
Thanks for your input. Developing a specific approach is essential in an online course. You have noted that communication is a key element. You communicate through your syllabus with your course expectations and outcomes. You communicate when you provide any information about assignments/projects, etc.
Keep up the good communication!
I think it is important to consider the levels of student learning and specific areas that need to have special attention given. Along with this, instructors should create an environment where is a student is not left guessing what they need to do and how to do it. And finally, a student should feel support from their instructor through communication
When teaching online, we already a major challenge in regards to communication as students and instructor are connected remotely.
Therefore, in my opinion, the most important things are:
1. clear communication processes to ensure not only the delivery process but also the support
2. availability of the instructor through "online" office hours or reachable via email
3. set live chats that are conducive to the learning progress and help students complete their weekly assignmetns.
Teaching online requires a very specific approach as we don't have the student facing us.
Therefore, it is important to set the following aspects:
1. clearly set and explain the course expectations
2. maintain a clear communicatio process with students to provide the most adequate support
3. ensure that the information delivered is clear and understood by the students and can help them complete their assignments.
Julie,
You bring good information to this forum. Thanks for sharing.
It is essential to develop skill in providing real, meaningful feedback to students in a way to engage them in their own learning. This also helps students want to learn more about the subject.
Thanks!
The three things to consider when teaching online are:
- How to connect students to the course materials, the instructor, and other students. Students need to feel like they belong to the class, and this is more of a challenge in an online environment. This can be done by email, IM, interaction in chat boards and live chats.
- Giving immediate and substantive feedback is extremely important. I prefer doing face-to-face essay "chats" with students, but in lieu of this, getting as much information from me as possible can help student success.
- Helping students engage and fully participate. This may require follow-up. Since online education is largely self-propelled, and some students may lack the motivation to participate fully, it comes down to the instructor to try to engage students whenever possible.
Chris and Krissi,
Thanks for your input and interaction through this forum. Keep it up!
Chris, these 3 (or 4 really) are great. I also think Flexibility should be added in there because this is an area where students need us most. Flexibility does not mean shying away from standards or expectations as we must uphold these, but it does mean that we see what is working and what is not working for our students and make adjustments as needed. The dynamic syllabus speaks to this aspect the most.
Krystal,
Encouraging students to participate and be engaged in the learning process is essential. Questions from students are great and sometimes need to be prompted as some students are reluctant to ask questions.
Keep getting them involved and keep up the good communication with students. Thanks!
Rebecca, I absolutely agree with you that communication is key for online courses. I think that in this environment, we have to reach out to the students because we can't look into their faces to see if the information we've presented is understood or confuses them. That's why we must encourage them to ask/answer questions during the live chats and also email them whenever we notice that their grades aren't as good as they could be.
Donna,
Thanks for providing succinct, yet complete information in your posting. I agree that the course outcomes/objectives must be considered when creating assignments and assessments. When you use your rubrics to evaluate the assignments, place the course objectives in the rubrics as well to help students connect the objectives to the assignments.
Doing this and communicating your expectations, you will help build community in your course. Nice job.
I think that the three most important things to consider are--
1. Creating assignments and assessments that map to the objectives of the course
2. Effectively Communicating clear expectations
3. Building community
Krystal,
You are correct in that there are many things to think about. Thank you for your input in such an organized fashion.
Considering convenience for the students may also mean that you do not meet synchronously at the same time for each class meeting. They can operate in an asynchrouous environment as well. This takes planning.
Providing information in a detailed fashion (and organized) is helpful. You are exactly right. I also like the fact that you are discussing diagnostic assessment - what do the students know.
Sometimes it's fun to begin a lesson, teach a little bit about content that students are not familiar with and then ask them 1) What do you think you know? and 2) What do you want to know.
It many times motivates them to want to learn more.
Thanks again for your input.
Give a clear set of expectations.
Give immediate positve feedback.
Know your subject well before delivering it.
There are many things to consider when teaching online courses but here are three that I find very important:
1. What is convenient for the students? Since we can create the schedules for when our classes meet, it’s important to consider the students and their commitments (i.e. work and family). This means that we should consider having our class times during the evenings and weekends to maximize their classroom experience so that they don’t have to solely rely on referring to archives.
2. What are the students’ educational and experience levels? I consider this because it determines the manner in which I present the information. For beginner courses, I understand that I have to provide more background information and explain terms and definitions in detail. It’s not productive to throw terms at them that they don’t understand. However, the expectations are elevated for students who are nearing graduation or are in graduate courses so you don’t have to spend as much time with definitions and can go in more depth on the topic.
3. Is the information presented in a detailed manner? Many online programs have their curricula create by a team within the organization as opposed to by each facilitator. Unfortunately, this can lead to somewhat vague and broad assignment objectives which require more detailed direction. As facilitators, we must review the assignments prior to the course starting to determine which components may cause problems are lead to more questions from the students.
Thomas,
Again, nice job and thanks for adding to the conversation. You are correct in that communication is key! Communicating in a variety of ways is essential.
Student are more engaged in the live chats and other synchronous environments. Keeping the classroom, as well as the syllabus, dynamic is important.
Nice job.
