Guidance v. Hand Holding
It is very important for an on-line instructor to manage the facilitation process carefully. For many instructors, the student roster is comprised of non-traditional aged students. So, how can a balance be struck between proper, dynamic, engaged guidance and coddling or hand holding? If instructors provide clear objectives and a roadmap for completing the same, along with consistent feedback and encouragement, most students can be successful. Instructors should not, however, spoon feed information to students. Instead, instructors must lead the class on a road to discovery.
excellent point. Plus, the more clear we are with setting our expectations, the more we can enforce consistency. Many students need to learn boundaries. In order to learn appropriate boundaries, we as the facilitators must set effective expectations and then follow through- due dates, detailed responces, ect. One of the greatest challenges I have faced is accepting that many students need to fail in order to learn how to suceed and if I try and "rescue" them, I am only hindering their learning process.
Ginger,
well put, we need to guide students on how to study in the online space and not to simply spoonfeed them.
Very informative!
Ginger,
I LOVE YOUR POST! I think you said this so well. You make adjustments day to day; post by post. I too want to be more of the tour guide and not the task master but sometimes that changes. . . .
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Susan,
I think we have to have students have small failures to help with large successes; both are important for career success.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
There is a fine line. As I do with my own children, I believe natural consequences to be best fitted with the classroom. If students don't understand, then teach them. If they understand but act otherwise, a bad grade may be needed to get them back on track. Don't be afraid to fail a student on a particular assignment, post chain, etc. The main goal is for them to learn and/or pass the class. It may take a slap in the face to get them going.
It is important that students act like responsible adults who take upon themselves responsibility for attempting to understand and learn the material. However, some students form crutches and expect instructors to hand feed material to them and digest it for them. They do not investigate what is asked in the assignments or do the reading or listen carefully to the lecture. Instead, they ask for the answers and expect them.
To assist these adult learners, I ask what parts of assignments, readings, instructions, etc. was not understood. Their answers tell me just how much they attempted to understand the assignment. That is always the starting point for assisting them. For those who have not listened to the lecture, I ask them to listen for the purpose of forming specific questions to ask and obtain the help needed from me. For those who have not thoroughly read the assignment, I ask them to thoroughly read the assignment so that they can provide specific questions regarding such.
I know this seems like a small tip, but it was one I learned and wished there was an instructor who had have shared such with me. I was spending so much time re-teaching and re-teaching in my synchronous courses only to find that students were not listening to the lecture where we went over important materials from the book and the assignments. I assumed people were doing their part. Boy, what a lesson to learn!
Nate,
You make a great point! You have to make sure that they know the best and worst of expectations. It is better to "fail" them on low stakes assignments to set expectations than to fail the course!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Samantha,
What a great post! You have really articulated a great work pattern. You do have to diagnose the problem piecing together information.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
you right, I noticed the same that you have to let a student fail to rescue them because in the work field it's the same you will learn from your mistakes!
Ginger
You bring up a good point. Regardless of age level, learning experiences, etc., students are still students. And students are in a learning environment. Spoon feeding does not do them any good as they need to be able to think for themselves and solve problems. But giving feedback that helps them move forward is very important as you note.
Frances,
I refer to myself many times as a student's tour guide. I am to point to important "landmarks" along the way but I don't think I can force anyone to learn. When we say student centered that also means student responsible for learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
