To be honest, I don't remember having any great difficulty in transitioning from onground to online...I've been doing this quite a while and am somewhat forgetful of things like that!
Since onground instructors most often are required to have office hours, I am quite used to assisting students. I guess the biggest problem I did encounter was that many online students come right out and ask how to do the assignments specifically, while onground students look more for guidance on the material.
Dr. V,
My biggest challenge converting from sage to guide is getting the students to read the material I provide to help them succeed. I provide live chats which are archived for later use, upload lecture files in Power Point and Word, post assignment-specific announcements, and send personal email. Each venue explains the requirements of the assignments; provides guidance for rationale, research, and response; and details the specific issues to address in each response.
Yet, session after session several students do not do as instructed and/or omit required responses, and/or provide plebeian responses to graduate assignments. That also happened in my eleven years teaching on-ground, but the numbers of such occurrences were far fewer.
It appears too many online students want only to work a few hours each weekend and do not want to be bothered with additional material to read.
Unfortunately, too many appear to view online education as a shortcut to a degree.
That mindset is what we need to reach and change if we are to be worthwhile 'guides.'
Bob
Jane,
I couldn't help myself, I had to reply. I too have seen a lack of professionalism in my online MBA courses--the students lack in written English, in research and analysis, and in comprehensive response. I have had several students who begin their sentences with 'Wow,' fail to use proper grammar, correct punctuation, or use the spell checker, and many research only the text and the encyclopedia.
I agree also with your assessment of the 'customer is always right' mentality, or maybe it is just an extension of the 'entitlement generation.'
It appears as if respect for academic integrity and professionalism has fallen by the wayside and has been absorbed by winning popularity contests with the students.
The real problem though is that not all students feel that 'entitlement'; some actually want to learn. Their learning is being hampered by the ones who want only the degree.
Bob
I think that asking the right question is really an art and in the online venue, it is no less easy. My personal challenge is that I will read the bio of a student but then because of so many students ... for 5 week spans ... it is hard to remember who is who and know that it will be different inf 5 weeks!
I wish I could work with them longer and be able to have a visual image of them. That way I could assign comments and insights to this image as we go through the course.
Thanks,
Tom
I use the same teaching methodology that I use on campus. The name of the game here is to get students involve on the discussion board because this is the tool that communicate the instructor with the students. I teach accounting and in order to get the students involve with me on the chat, I divided each lecture into small learning objectives and followed each learning objectives with question. This way, the conversation is two ways.
You are right that the instructor/student interaction is going to be much different. I have been teaching online for 10 years and it seems the more tech savvy students my students get, the less professionalism and respect they show in the online classroom.
Emails come in written as demands, lacking punctuation, with little attention to grammar or spelling.
I received an email once that said only "were's (sic) my grade"
DB board posts likewise lack grammar. The excuses I see are often outrageous, though I accept them all at face value since I have no way to know what is true or not.
I see so much plagiarism, it is crazy.
Without the face-to-face interaction students are anonymous and many times this reduces their inhibitions for rude or borish behavior. At for-profit schools I believe this problem is compounded by the "customer is always right" attitude.
At one school where I teach we are required to host live sessions each week. This is very similar to an f2f lecture -- so we are already stage sages again. I get the most amazing questions when students attend the lectures. It is much more dynamic than even some on ground classes since students have less inhibitions about asking all sorts of questions and sharing their experiences.
The critical element is the question. Guiding involves asking rather than telling. It's the old Socratic method: the knowledge is within the learner, not withing US and the goals is, through asking questions, to draw out what the learner already knows.
I understand that there several ways that special education instructors can actually work effectively in a push in environment that would allow them to maximize the benefits of their time in the classroom. However, is there anyone who uses the instructor “push†online? If so, how do you use it and how effective has it been? Thanks for sharing.
Personally, I feel that one of the biggest challenge in transitioning to a “guide on the side†is getting everyone involved and becoming interactive. We must find ways to promote more critical thinking that will of course lead to collaborative learning. We have to find more sophisticated ways to engage our students and to keep them interested and interactive. The discussion boards, chat sessions and video conferencing are great ideas. There has been arguments and discussion by Harasim, 1989 that effective collaboration will not take place in an online learning environment unless the instructor takes a proactive measure to provide an appropriate context for collaborative learning.
Hi Jay,
I try to post a comment and question for each person's assignment on the DB. I begin by stating something that I found interesting or informative in his or her post and then include a question that the post inspired. I hope that this leads even the quiet learner to feel comfortable, but it doesn't always work.
Any suggestions?
Elizabeth
Andrew,
There are some schools that specifically indicate the responses need to be to other students. The idea is to open the communication channels with the other students because some students would 'cling' to the instructor and not venture to interact as much as many others do.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I must admit that even after seven years teaching online (following ten on the ground), I am still challenged a bit by the online format. My single biggest struggle is to try to engage students in *all of the course material* rather than the specific concepts from the assignments. As the guide on the side, I must respond to questions the students ask and those almost exclusively relate to the assignment content.
One way to get them to think about other concepts is to pose alternative questions or short narratives about concepts related to the main DB question for the week. That tends to engage learners who may want a bit more out of class.
In the traditional classroom, eye contact serves to engage students - even the most introverted student will typically engage with faculty in either the classroom or outside in the hall. And the physical act of handing back an exam (good or bad) allows one to make a connection with the student and their performance in class. That is more difficult online.
One relatively effective way to deal with this lack of familiarity that I incorporate is to randomly post internet chat messages to students I see online in the classroom as an attempt to make a connection.
Elizabeth,
Soctratic questioning is a good strategy to help move the conversation along in a discussion board. How do you approach the quiet learner who seems unresponsive to any form of questioning? Are they just a lost cause?
Jay Familant
The biggest challenge in acting as a facilitator is getting students to take responsibility of their own learning. Personal accountability seems to be lacking in a good amount of students. Facilitators cannot read the chapters or materials to their students, but rather, we can encourage our students to take the necessary time to devote to their studies. What have been some good tactics that you have used to get students motivated to learn?
Jay Familant
David, how do you feel about using qualified YouTube videos during live chats (where we share the screen) and thus allow the student to see qualified computer forensics experts speak to a required topic of the week.
Elizabeth and David;
In my experiences the discussion is the combination of at least two interactions by the Wed deadline, regardless of whether it is to me or the other students, and then we assess the quality and content of the main post to see if its substantive. Does the design process really state it just to other students? Hmmm.
Tim, yes it really depends on the level of the course are you teaching. By the time students take my 400 level computer forensics course they only have 2-4 courses remaining so they have experience in the online classroom. Now the challenge to ensure via audio and visual learning can they then apply technical concepts they have never come across before in the forensics area. A unique class takes some unique real life experience relational behavior.
The guide on the side to me certainly must be as bright as a lighthouse on the shore David. After 12 years of teaching I found that in lectures I cannot speak over the students heads and assume they understand all technical terms and applications of my experience. This is a methodical practive of first presenting an intro to the material at a high level, capture the attention of the student, show the importance of the topics (I teach Computer Forensics so its certainly critical in the establishment of Guilt or Innocence), and the gradually bring your own experience, show the content is achieveable, remain postitive, and then get into the weeds once you have confirmation from the students in the chat room they can apply the material. The challenge therefore is to ensure the student can grasp and really apply the technical material.
James,
Creating that learning community in the classroom provides many students with much-needed support. One of my favorite slogans in the online class is "cooperate and graduate." The students seem to like that one, also.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
