Time & Technology
Often students take courses online due to their limited amount of time. Although there are a heap of tools out there to help students engage, I have found that many students avoid them because they limit their synchronous learning engagements. Has any one else found this to be true? I do find that I get more responses using text messaging above all else.
Keith,
Good point. If we can do things that don't take much time, we may be more likely to do that. Thanks for adding to the conversation.
Time is a big problem. I think the reason why they respond to text messages is that it takes very little time. The texts are easy to view and they only take a short time to create. Phone messages have to be listened to which takes longer especially if you have to push a few buttons. Then it takes a lot of time to actually call back and then actually talk! Text is just so simple. I have found that I have the same behavior in my personal life so it is not a surprise that students behave the same way in their online classroom.
Sarah,
Great. You are giving students an opportunity to get to know each other and develop relationships. This goes a long way on online courses. Thanks for your input.
I use a small group project in the second week, so that students can try interaction with communication tools other than e-mail and our course discussion board. Doing this early allows the students to find a way of communication with their peers, who may become "study buddies," before the content gets so heavy that they aren't free to do much exploring. I also give them a list of tools to try and this works pretty well. However, they don't tend to use these tools much during the rest of the course.
Raeven,
I see what you are saying. I simply make them a part of the class and attach the engagement/participation to their grade. If it doesn't "count" for anything, they will avoid it. Thanks for bringing this up.
