Student Bio's
I use the student bio's for a class that is a 3 hour course for HRM Procedures students. I need to know what their life experiences are to better manage the class. Less experience will require ground up teaching as opposed to more a less a refresher course.
Concetta ,
Very good points. Your management skills can be directly applied to the student's situation.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Student Bio's will allow me to have a better understanding of what the student is dealing with on a daily basis. It will allow me to assist the student with management of assignments and projects.
Lydia, you are correct they are good ice breakers, and may be used to check student's writing abilities.
Student bios are an excellent ice-breaker. It also gives some information about each student. I read all of them and I find them very helpful.
Student bios are a great way for students to get to know each other and identify similarities with each other. I like how you use bios for your hybrid classes--great idea! Thanks Shana.
That is an excellent idea Nitin, it could also help the instructor on some basic student knowledge like writing skills, if they understand some important policies of the institution. What the average knowledge of the course is so the instructor does not teach above the students ability to understand.
I teach a hybrid course where the students take a portion of the course on-line, but also come in for the lab portion of the program. I find that having them post biographies helps the students to learn something more about an individual. At times in the lab classroom you may have a student that asks a lot of questions, and others may not have the patience they should. When students can post a little bit about themselves as individuals, it may help others to understand them and see how much they have to share.
It is always a great idea to attempt to assess your students at the beginning of the course, for the reason that you describe in your post Nitin.
It also helps to create an avenue of confidence and communications with the students.
Great thread Beth. I teach a very technical course in computer programming. For many students, this is the first stint with software programming. I always create a Introductions section where I request the students to focus on their experiences with computers and programming. This helps me understand how much I need to "hand hold" the students of a particular session.
You are right Ruben! Assigning a three paragraph bio is a great way to assess the writing skills of each student, which would be especially helpful if you are teaching a course that has a heavy writing component.
Actually the instructors learn more about the students abilities and their level of education they ahve already obtained, so the instructor will be able to teach to the class level. It will also give the instructor an idea of the students abilities in writing structure and spelling and grammar understanding. I have had students who do not know how to write properly. They have run on sentences, fragment sentences, using the incorrect word jumping from idea to a different idea within a parsgraph. So asking for a 3 paragraph bio the instructor might be able to identify students who would need extra attention and provide sources to help the student improve their writing skills.
I think there are always new things you can learn about the students that can help build community within the class. I would suggest that you continue the practice the first day of class of introducing each other, than for the first weeks discussion online, post a question that will allow you to learn more about the student--and it would be even better if you can relate that question to the content of the class.
Good luck with teaching online learning Susan!
We are just starting to teach online courses at my institution. Because we are a vocational/technical institution, we are teaching Blended courses, where the students will actually be on campus for the lab/clinical portions of the course. Therefore, they will actually be face-to-face many times and will get to know each other. On the first day of on-campus classes, we usually do a get-to-know-you round table chat with the students, instructors introducing ourselves and students telling about themselves.
I am wondering if we would still need to have students post bios in this case...? Any ideas?
I think you are thinking about this from the traditional classroom perspective, but the posting is referencing student bios from the online perspective. However, I would encourage you to continue to think of ways of using the student biography in the traditional classroom setting. As you state, in a first quarter class it is a great way for students to get to know each other and build community.
Thanks for your comments!
I usually do a survey-type question in my general study skills class, which is the first academic course students take in my college's program. I ask about family, jobs, age [if people are willing to share], home state, etc. However, I may try sending students off to a separate room with a whiteboard of their own to write down a mini bio, whatever they're comfortable sharing with the class. Then I can do that too. We can all share and learn more about each other.
Since most of these people will continue to share classes with each other, the time spent may go a long, long way toward building that sense of community an online learner so often lacks.
My only problem is lots of students and only an hour class with other material to cover. I'll have to figure out a process and try it. It's a valuable idea.
That is a great way to get students to participate in the biography! Thanks for your sharing!
The courses I teach require students to write their bio. The instructor is required to do so in the syllabus of the course. The students receive a grade for submitting their bio, so they all participate eagerly. I find this is a great way to begin a class.
A structure or guideline on what to include in the biography is very helpful to the online student! Thanks for sharing your thoughts Jennifer.
