I learned to engage students in an online learning enviroment must be intentional as there is no face to face interaction.
The suggested methods for asynchronus and synchronus discussions was very helpful regarding the online environment. The types of student learning styles as well has shown that I need to be more prepared to engage them as well as evaluate any deficits quickly in the online arena.
In synchronous discussions, allow time for social interaction at the beginning and end of every session.
We are fairly to e-learning and I still struggle a bit with asynchronous conversations. I have always been use to face to face learnigng. I find through practice and discussion with others that I am improving.
In this module we learned best practices for fostering participation in asynchronous and synchronous discussions and best practices for providing feedback to students.
Personally, I favored the traditional classroom setting, because in an online learning environment I cannot see the non-verbal learning ques or feedback in the form of body language such as smiles, nods, confused looks, frowns, etc. but with COVID...I've learned to adapt.
I agree that it is important to:
- Provide feedback on a timely basis.
- Word your feedback messages in such a way that they build confidence within learners and encourage them to continue to pursue the objectives of the course.
- When your feedback includes criticisms, choose the correct tone and wording to avoid damaging the learner's dignity.
Students should receive feedback from instructors on a regular basis. I also don't hesitate to solicit student feedback about how the course is progressing and if they are getting out of the course what they want? Are there some teaching methods that are ineffective for themor that they do not like?
I find this helps me become a better teacher and students are more respectful and receptive to learning.
Gain trust and utilize individual synchronous meetings.
How to manager synchronouu discussion by preparing the topc and using time which can help me get more information done.
The discussions are one of the best ways to connect with your students.
The importance of receaving feedback as instructor.
Asynchronous discussion is a preffered method for the discussion on critical content. But both synchronous and asynchronous communication are importnt for an effective online learning.
Asynchronous discussions should be used for critical and importanr course content. but both asynchronous and synchronous disussion are importnt for an effective online learning.
During covid, a church that I attended used Facebook live on Sunday mornings. As part of that experience, they had a synchronous chat session that anyone could write to all the time. That worked fabulously before the service because people who had moved away came to visit and were talking to everyone else. It was really fun. (Some kept talking during the service ... sometimes commenting on what the preacher was saying in real time...).
For an online course, though, I totally agree that a synchronous discussion isn't the best when there is more than two people communicating. it isn't the best choice because it is very difficult to maintain the flow of the discussion. From what I learned here, asynchronous discussions provide participants the opportunity to carefully think through what they post. This has a couple of of positive impacts:
1. It increases the quality of individual responses because the students have a chance to think through the issue prior to responding.
2. Everyone who reads the responses benefits from the increased thought that went into the higher quality response from #1, above. Thus, the participants learn from each other.
When I taught my course asynchronously, I arranged a 30-minute synchronous meeting once a week. I found that going completely online last year during the first six months of the pandemic caused a lot of anxiety. It helped the students to engage with the course when our online sessions began with a light-hearted "question of the day." We learned more about each other with questions like, "what is your favorite frozen treat and why" or "if you could invite anyone to dinner, who would it be?" I learned so much more about my student's personalities and got them into a more receptive state of mind.
In the classroom, learners are able to see non-verbal cues communicated by the teacher. Because students cannot see non-verbal cues online, a way instructors can use non-verbal communication is by utilizing emoticons.
Synchronous discussion works best with only one student to answer specific questions for them. If you are having a discussion with many students, asynchronous chat works best.
Learning the difference between synchronous and asynchronous helps instructors work on how they can approach thir students to the different topics to teach in class. Also learning each of the studnets learning methods helps us approach things differntly.
My big take away were the six learning styles and how Avoidant, Competitive, and Dependent styles attribute to students lack of participation. It will critical to find these traits in my students quickly to coach them until they get the confidence they require to use one of the the other three learning styles; Collaborative, Participant, or Independent.
Avoidant Competitive Dependent Collaborative Participant Independent are issues with students not partaking or engaging in online classes was a great point for me. I also enjoyed points with the loss of facial expression, gestures, and tone of vocalization, messages intended to communicate in class is not present with online classes.
I agree it is important to post rules on netiquette for discussion board posts. I would like to learn more about creating a rubric for discussion board posts. They always seem subjective and harder to grade.
Being availabe to meet synchronously with individual students will help these students feel like part of the learning community and the added bonus of a one to one session being less intimidating for the student.
