Samuel Beaumont

Technology is essentially the backbone of online learning.  I recall the days of distance learning before the internet when it was conducted using snail mail and video tapes as the instructional medium.  The more interactive and easier to use the LMS the better the experience for the student.  This also includes digital materials, which more schools are including as part of the tuition cost.  This then touches on the point of adaptative learning platforms as well as simulations to help facilitate learning in new and innovative ways.  An asynchronous discussion board can be a very lonely and disengaging experience for… >>>

 Regular communication with the student from the time they submit an inquiry about their program of study to the time they graduate is important.  Students need to feel safe to ask questions and engage with university personnel to request assistance when needed.  Online learning is not an easy task and students must have the ability to work on their own and possess some internal motivation.  It is also important for faculty to reach out to students that go MIA and notify their academic advisor.  Furthermore, if a student expresses a need the faculty should take the appropriate steps to ensure… >>>

Student retention is about relationships between the faculty and staff and the learner.  It is about providing an adequate support network in which the student knows they are cared for and that employees of the institution genuinely care if they succeed or fail.  It is not just the job of the faculty, but of every employee at the institution to perform their duties in a way that reinforce a positive professional relationship with the learners in their care.

Feedback needs to be efficient and effective.  Allows students to understand where they are in the class and how they are performing & provides accountability.   

Setting Webex meetings to discuss feedback is very helpful.    

Make directions available in different ways.  Asynchronous courses rely on user understanding.  Videos and examples are helpful.   

Good messaging from admissions to enrollment and quality handoffs from admissions to academic advising.  We have an overlap period between the two offices where students are getting contacted from both to ensure a quality transition, they complete the online orientation course and are ready to start… >>>

The adult learner comes to college with a wealth of experiences and knowledge that is not typically found in the traditional undergraduate student.  They expect to be active participants in the learning process, want to learn pragmatic skills that will help them reach their goals, and they have a desire to learn.  Brining out those experiences and encouraging active and robust discussion between the learner and the instructor, and between learners, is a key concept to increase engagement and reinforce the course concepts and objectives. One challenge with the adult learner is they come with a life philosophy and in… >>>

Having a mission statement for your career services office is important. It is also necessary to build in career services activities throughout the tenure of students so they are adequately prepared to find a job after graduation.  This includes resume writing, interview skills, negotiations, and providing them with job leads and job fairs.  Career services and job placement activities can also be used by admissions to attract new students as long as the institution is following through on what it says it delivers as part of the educational experience.  I also think embedding career services activities into select classes is… >>>

The main takeaway for me is offering alternative assignments improves student engagement and learning opportunities. This way the student can select the assignment that best fits their personality, and as long as the assignment is tied back to the course and program learning objectives these are great ways to accommodate different types of leaners.

I believe the days of academics sitting in the ivory tower spewing forth pearls of wisdom that students will happily retrieve are gone.  The modern student expects far more than the traditional instructor-centric method of teaching, which includes the authority/lecture style we all know so well.  As Seth Soronnadi said we need to create a sense of belonging, community, and genuinely care about the students and what they are learning.  Furthermore, we also need to address how personalities, both that of the instructor and student, play into the equation.

The first thing I took from this module is there is a coloring system for an individual’s personality type.  Understanding the personality of an individual, regardless if it is a student, employee, or friend, helps one successfully engage with that individual.  I concur with Dennis Eberly that people can be a mix of colors and I am not sure we can simply assign these buckets as a one size fits all.  I feel I am a mix of gold and orange.  The key takeaway for me is to recognize the wide variation of personality types and to be aware of… >>>

I was familiar with the Myers-Briggs test as I have taken that several times in the past.  The True Colors (TC) system was new to me, as well as Keirsey’s temperaments.  Understanding these various personality traits is valuable as a supervisor and an instructor since everyone absorbs and processes knowledge in different ways. Of course, the ability to discern the personalities of students in an online course that is usually eight weeks in length is difficult.  Furthermore, personalities can change over time.  One challenge we have in our classes is our student body is extremely diverse in terms of age… >>>