Benjamin Wells

Make sure evaluations are completed in an anonymous format.  This will ensure students are more likely to give honest feedback which is needed in course evaluations and redesigning.  

The more we involve students in the online learning process, the more likely success is accomplished.  Develop policies and procedures that make mandatory student to student communication, student to teacher communication and student to classroom communication and this will alleviate social presence and lack of social interaction issues.

Collecting data from your students can be done.  Design questions that focus on predesign issues and this will help you create a e-class module that is not just read the text and answer the multiple guess questions.

There are many responsibilities assigned to an online teacher- contact between students and colleagues, developing reciprocity among and cooperation among students, encouraging active learning, feedback loops, emphasis of time on task, setting and accomplishing high expectations and respecting diverse talents and the many different ways of learning.  Time Mangagement and effective use of tech assistance goes a long way.

Instructors that have a correlation between course goal and life goals tend to achieve a high student buy in rate.  The seven principles of learning are as important as Piaget's four stages of cognitive development as well as a thorough understanding of the 4 levels on the Depth of Knowledge chart and the demands instructors place on a student that is required for success in the course.

Having knowledge of and utilizing both sychronous and asynchronous tools will help your student to feel like a member of an e-community.

Clearly communication is of utmost importance in designing and explaining course objective, assignments, projects, expectations and between instructor, students and student to student.  It sounds strange to me, but a simple phone call can solve many problems before they impede student progress.  

All students have strenths and weaknesses.  It is am important role of the instructor to lead the student to self awareness that will lead to improvement in both strenths and weaknesses.  There are online self analysis tools that may be given to students or a line of questioning that wil lead to student self analysis is effective as well.

Collaborative work amongst the student group leads to inherent reflection on the learning process.  The learning experience can should lead to relationships between the technology, the students and the learning process.

Knowing your audience will help to ensure the success of your online class.  Each generation has strengths and weaknesses that can be played on and can give the instructor guidance with problem solving.