Get Your Students Hired
. My biggest challenge in transitioning will be, no human inaction, on-line interaction is not always the best positive course of action with people. What happened to verbal communication, body language tells a lot about a person. I’m a great judge of character but that also reflects on how I read a person, on-line takes that away from me.
Hi Everyone,
I agree with many of my colleagues when they noted that lack of body language and nonverbal communication is a obstacle to becoming a full fledged "guide on the side." Online instructors can bridge this gap with using emoticons in their messages, video clips, pictures, live chats, etc. I always let my students know that they can schedule with me a phone call if they feel lost or isolated, particularly if they are new to taking online classes. This is a good way to connect with them and to let them know that I am here to help them in every step of the way.
Thanks!
Emily
The inability to see the student, other than words posted in the chat window, so there is a lack of human connection – to see facial expressions, body language, and the spontaneity of verbal response over written response.
The biggest challenge from being the sage on the stage to the guide on the side is being able to promote curiosity instead of just giving the answers. When you give subtle hints of the course content you actually stimulate the desire for students to search for more information. This leads to discovery learning.
I am fairly comfortable with online facilitating, however I am far from perfect. The area that I find most difficult is to further engage the disengaged learner. No matter how much I want a student to participate, I cannot force them. I find it challenging when student lack the motivation to even turn the assignment in. Even with coaching I find that some students just don't really care about the course. This is a very small portion of the students but I find it to be my largest struggle.
Ann,
Those clues are harder to pick up in an online environment, but not impossible. The more you teach and communicate online the better you become at picking up subtleties in communications with students. Although maybe not as effective as face to face you do learn to adapt the best you can.
Herbert Brown III
Herbert,
You stole my thunder here with this saying of "guide on the side." Have you taken any classes or studied heutagogy? It appears that you may have from this post.
Jean
Yes oneline teaching is quite different from traditional classroom teaching. The student is not infront of you. You don't know if they are paying attention, or effective listening to the lecture. You don't know if they are having a bad day or totally disinterested in the lecture.
You have to look for the clues out there. Tone of the discussions, e-mails or other clues you would get
Loretta,
Can you give a little more detail here. Are you saying that it is hard to project your presence in an online course without the face to face?
Herbert Brown III
Jerri,
Do you do any "mini assessments"? For example you could give them a simple reflective discussion to complete where based on their responses you can tell if they understand the concepts and can apply them, or a simple activity that accomplishes the same task like a short quiz just for understanding. It does make it more challenging, but I have also found in my on campus courses that students still learn to give you the "I understand it" look when in reality they still don't get it.
Herbert Brown III
The challenge for me is definitely the lack of verbal/visual communication. It is so very hard for me to judge if they "get it" when I can't see or hear them. To combat this I try to speak with students on the phone if I am not sure if they understand certain concepts or if they are not doing particularly well. If needed I do one-on-one sessions where I can confirm their understanding. Thanks.
Sean ,
I agree that video conferencing tools are a great tool to connect with some students. Although I would argue that an online course that is completely done synchronously through video conferencing is technically just a televised on-campus class. Many online students take online courses to facilitate work schedules, etc. so they can attend school. Video conferencing can certainly help add to the online instructor's appearance of "presence"
Herbert Brown III
From my experience the ability to guide and or facilitate is heavily weakened by not knowing what the student is unclear about. In general, many of the questions that have often been posed relate to deadlines, accessing errors, or acceptance for late submission. Really when we consider these listings fully, any of them, those above and any others; I challenge you that the true questions of clarity about the subject matter would negate many of those concerns, and obviously improve grades. Usually most want to presume they understand even within a face to face setting so to consider taking that extra step to voice a concern within writing, calling or texting seems to often get lost. The use of video conferencing I firmly believe can mitigate much of the lack to clarify within the distant learning setting. So here the presence is sought by clarifying that which is not understood.
Colleen,
Could you also ask them to provide some very specific ways that the student's life or experiences relate to the content, or ask them to provide a personal reflection on the topic. If you did an introductory forum with them you might have some insights to them that you can look for in those reflections.
Herbert Brown III
Janet,
One of the best ways to provide the feedback to students is through the Sandwich method (found in other postings on this site). The Sandwich method suggests that you provide the student a little positive feedback on what they did, provide the issues/criticism, then close with a little more positive feedback. This way you "sandwich" the negative with two positive comments. This way the student hears what is wrong, but also is reassured that something they did was good.
Herbert Brown III
I find my biggest challenge is trying to determine whether my students are grasping the learning objectives of the course. I sometimes find students using search engines to answer discussion questions. When I encounter plagiarized answers, I email the student privately. For other discussion posts, I try to pose additional questions on the topic in order to assess if the student does indeed understand the topic.
Hi, Everyone,
The biggest challenge for me is to be able to develop questions and comments that will lead the student to expanded thinking about the course concepts. Also, to find appropriate ways to tell the student that he/she is incorrectly explaining a concept, without discouraging the student.
Janet
Rocio,
Timeliness is a critical factor in any online communications. You can also establish guidelines or expectations around what they communication looks like on the syllabus. Therefore, the students know they should not expect a return email from the instructor at 2am. Establishing these clear expectations ensure they student sees you as being "present" in the course even if they had to wait 24 hours to hear back from you.
Herbert Brown III
I think one of the biggest challenge will be give feedback at the proper time. Students need to resolve their doubts on time even though we are not on the same space or time-frame. We need to be there for them.
Also be able to promote interactions between students on this on-line setting. They possible don't know each other and we are the bridge that will be make possible to connect them. That's another challenge.