Get Your Students Hired
Ron,
What are some ways in which you see the roles of instructors as "different" between f2f and online?
Herbert Brown III
I believe that the roles are different for the instructor in f2f versus online, but you do not lose the role of insuring the content is delivered in the online classes.
Letitia,
The personal touch is extremely important in online classes today. Students do need to know that you are there and present in the courses and they are not alone in the learning process.
Herbert Brown III
One of the biggest challenges is knowing if the student is out there or not. Many students participate, however 1 or 2 students tend to take a back seat and without being able to see the student, it's challenging to know if they are engaged or not until a day or two later. Consistently posting in discussions and announcements give presence to students so that they don't feel alone. If I do not see a student active for 2 days, I reach out to them especially since out onlines classes are 5 weeks.
Bruce,
What tools do you see yourself using? Is all of your course going to be synchronous instruction or are you going to bring in other asynchronous components as well. For me a mix of many tools has been effective to reach and interact with the students.
Herbert Brown III
I plan on using the Prepare, Collaborate and Apply model for online teaching. This will make the synchronous lectures more efficient for learning.
I start out my sessions by calling my students and introducing myself. I double check to see if they have the required materials for the course and if they don't - I send out emails to the appropriate individuals. I also email constantly as well as check up on my students when they say they've been ill or computer issues - to show that I care and that they're not alone.
Lisa,
Can you elaborate a little more on this? I can typically respond to students within a maximum of 24 hours and I have not had this concern from students. Even if they are in a traditional class you would likely only see them maybe every other day face to face so 24 hours is actually better than traditional if you can respond in that amount of time.
Herbert Brown III
The hardest part of online teaching is feeling as though you can't connect with your students in a time frame most helpful to them. When they ask a question via email, they have to wait for the answer.
Keith,
The personal face to face communications feel more natural because that is what we are used to.
Herbert Brown III
Keith,
It is very difficult at times. The more you communicate via email you can start to get some idea of indirect communication in emails as well.
Herbert Brown III
There are many online courses that have real connections via just voice or webcams. I have always seemed to enjoyed these classes the most.
Written communication can be very tricky. It is hard to gauge body language and exactly what is meant by a certain phrase. Facial expressions go along way in the real world but are hard to express sometimes in the online world.
Robert,
These are great ideas. You are also meeting their unique learning styles by offering alternative assessment techniques. I use many of these as well and they work very well.
Herbert Brown III
I like to provide a number of activities to accurately gauge student learning, including solving problems, creating essays (after multiple drafts that receive both peer and instructor feedback), student podcast/video posts demonstrating a particular technique, etc. Since adult learning relies on student involvement and a bit of student control, I allow them to demonstrate their skills in a variety of ways.
Brian,
The more you can personally connect with the students through discussions and other interactive elements of the course the more students will see your "presence." It is about your connection in the course and with the students and how active you are in guiding their learning.
Herbert Brown III
GENIEVE,
The 24-hour time frame is pretty consistent among folks teaching online. The key I believe comes in the design of the course. You have to design the instructional activities so that they guide the students learning toward the final outcome desired. The more you can include your own personal examples and allow students to add their personal examples to activities the more personal it becomes for the students. It also ensures that the students are directing their own learning and connecting their learning to previous knowledge.
Herbert Brown III
An instructor can have presence in many ways. Posting a bio in the announcements, answering emails, phone calls, and comments when submitting grades.
Hello Herbert,
I think that the biggest challenge for me to be the "guide on the side" will be to address the students questions in a timely manner due to the different time zones that we all reside in. For that reason I respond to all emails and calls within a 24hr time frame. Do you have any other suggestions to make this process run smoother?
Genieve
Michael,
The main idea is to give a variety of learning activities that address the outcomes you are trying to obtain. A diversity of activities helps you reach those different learning styles.
Herbert Brown III