Transition from classroom to online instruction
I am thinking about transitioning from classroom teaching to online instruction. What are the main challenges in transferring the knowledge to students if you can't gauge their level of comprehension?
Austin,
I thank you for your extraordinary contributions. This is another of your VERY good discussion postings which I cannot adequately address due to the constraints of the forum. So, my 'quick-n-dirty' answer to this one is - depending on the class - "How can we get them to attend..." may not be the best question to ask. Is the chat instructionally robust enough to desrve student attendance or is it just another activity to check off the list to 'demonstrate' interactivity/engagement? Would the instructional purposes for that particular class be better served through another medium? The list of alternative possibilities is quite long. However, this is another great topic to address. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Dr. Vaillancourt
One would expect the students to use the chat session and online conference as opportunities for learning and interaction with instructors but majority of them do not show up. How can we get them to attend these sessions?
Austin Umezurike
Marcia,
These are excellent recommendations! Thank you for sharing your insights.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
The best guideline I can give to overcome this challenge of expanding one's vocabulary is to read more. Newspapers often carry brief daily articles that explore the meanings of words and phrases. These articles often emphasize peculiar words that do not find themselves into your normal vocabulary. Often you will find that learning one new word leads to other new words. This can keep your brain cells active and hungry for more. Make reading these articles one of your daily habits.
Play dictionary games with your family and/or friends in which someone uses the dictionary to find an intersting word and writes down the real definition and everyone else writes down a fake (and funny) definition. See how many people you can fool with your fake definitions.
Make avid use of the dictionary and thesaurus.
Marcia,
You are very correct. It is well documented that nonverbal communication and inflections (tone, volume, etc.) have a strong impact on the ability to convey meaning. This requires a much higher level of skill in the use of vocabulary to be sure the intended meaning is conveyed. What are some of your best guidelines for overcoming this challenge?
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Online instruction/discussions do not have the same cues for meaning as face-to-face or verbal communication. Without tone of voice, eye contact, and body language to help us convey our message, humor and sarcasm can be easily misconstrued, and something that was intended to be funny or harmless can unintentionally insult the recipient. The potential for real misunderstanding is great.
Charles,
The gauging of student's progress in an online classroom is often very heavily reliant on electronic quantitative data (in addition to submitted classworkwork). Of course, the mastery level of the objectices/outcomes is the ultimate determinant - the the submitted classwork will provide the summative 'gauging' of student progress. Reviewing the activity reports that are available in most LMSs is information that can assist an instructor to know where the student is spending time (or, probably more importantly, not spending time). This often provides adequate insite to gauging the student's proficiencies and deficiencies.
However, most f2f classroom teachers maintain formative, ongoing assessments of the student that is well beyond the formal formative assessments (quizzes, etc.) within the curriculum. All of those 'non-verbal' indicators that allow for a multitude of on-the-fly, intuitive classroom assessments simply do not exist in today's online classroom. My personal preference is to have synchronous audible conversation(s) (telephone, skype. or whatever) with a student who has eluded my ability to get a handle on his/her capabilities. While the online classroom is in its infancy, the teacher will have a lot of problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking opportunities to resolve according to his/her creativity and available resources.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
It seems to me an online class eliminates the use of some teaching "styles" or "modes". I have the same question, how does one gauge the student and provide adequate feedback in such a limited framework?
Hi Reese,
The 'P' (procrastination) factor is often magnified in the online classroom. Sometimes having the student create and commit to a particular weekly schedule (postings/submissions by day of the week) can help the students, especially when I email an immediate inquiry when the commitment is not accomplished at the deadline. Any ideas about what else may ameliorate this tendancy further?
To me, the biggest differene is student motivation. Online classes are self paced and many students get behind in their classwork. This causes a circular pattern of not submitting work, failing tests and so forth because once they get behind on a class, they never seem to catch up.
Hi Melissa, we don't focus so much on learning styles, but rather focus on different strategies to engage learners in critical thinking including weaving, prompting, asking for elaboration, providing summaries, asking for clarification, etc. Tina
I agree. Student engagement can be challenging. It’s important to engage students early in the course. I have found that using a variety of teaching techniques that appeal to all learning styles is helpful. What works best for you?
Hi Lori, I think the biggest challenge is getting them engaged. To guage their level of comprehension, we mainly using discussions and provide frequent feedback to help them understand the concepts being taught. Tina
