Get Your Students Hired
Debra,
That is great! I love to hear that you are proactive in watching for struggling students. I have also found that if I can get to them early enough I can save them before it is too late in a course.
Herbert Brown III
Mr. Brown
My biggest challenge has been reaching out to the student to provide assistance. If I have a student who is not doing well, usually, I can them on right track after a discussion or two.
Online teaching requires a great deal of monitoring and outreach to ensure their success. I am very diligent about monitoring my grade book each week, so I can provide outreach in a time efficient manner.
Debra
Jeannie,
The positive attitude and encouragement does go a long way in establishing your presence in a virtual course. Just your timely interaction with students makes a big difference as well.
Herbert Brown III
Tony,
This is where I believe we really need to think about our tools and how we can use those tools to address what we believe are best practices. For example, there are many synchronous learning tools that have whiteboard tools that you can use to interact with students. You would also use a screen capture software to record a lecture AND a whiteboard style interaction even using Microsoft Word and the Inking capabilities in it...and a tablet style PC. Think about the importance of those learning activities and if they are that important, find an online tool that will give you those capabilities.
Herbert Brown III
I think that this is definitely where one's personality needs to shine through! It is important to converse on the discussion, however, still be able to show that you are the authority on the matter. Interacting with the students and having a positive tone and wording is also very important. Encouragement also goes a long way with students.
My biggest struggle would probably be, not being able to use hand expressions or the white-board as well as not being to make eye contact and facial expressions to highlight the higher levels of passionate subject details.......
Dr. Cecil,
Good points, thanks for sharing and absolutely Go Hokies and Mountaineers!!
Herbert Brown III
One of the main difficulties is not being able to “read†students’ personalities from their voice tones, facial expressions, and other body language that can indicate how to best guide each student. More personal communications (email, phone calls, direct discussion board responses, etc.) and carefully reading students’ biographies will help. Once students’ classroom personalities are discovered, this information can be used to most effectively guide students to successful learning.
As an aside, I also hold a Ph.D. (Mathematics 1974) from Virginia Tech and an MA (Mathematics 1967) from Appalachian State University. Go Hokies and Mountaineers!
Ricardo,
You can over time learn to read student communications or lack there of in a similar way to body language in a physical classroom. It does take time and is not perfect, but you can start to pick up subtleties with students and engage them with questions and request feedback when they appear to be disconnecting or are misunderstanding something.
Herbert Brown III
The ability to read students' body language or facial expressions. Many times In a class environment I'm able to 'read' the class and see if they understand and are comfortable with new information. If there is a quiet student I can always just ask them one on one if they have any questions or concerns. In an online environment, they just might not ask and stay quiet. So the ability to make sure they feel safe in asking questions is very important.
As an online instructor my role is to facilitate the learning of my students and so I do take a back seat to enable them to lead the discussion and thus to grow their knowledge among their peers. I reinforce concepts and assist with keeping the dialog going. One of the challenges is to "manage" students who are strongly opinionated and thus can make other students shy away from partaking in a dialog. Talking via a private message to such student is one way to deal with such attitude or diverting the perspective of their answer to enable more inputs form others
Heather,
I would suggest that education of adults shouldn't be an authority in front of the class any more than that might be appropriate for education of children. In my opinion we need to combine as many learning strategies and tools that we can to reach students regardless of age in a real and meaningful way.
Herbert Brown III
Milka,
So in your opinion what is the value of the instructor in online learning. Quality online learning should not be just a self study of the material, but should incorporate interaction between students and student and instructor. Assignments should drive students to apply the concepts they are learning to real world applications. If we don't do anything but give them a book and say read it and complete these quizzes on the material in the text, what is the value of an instructor?
Herbert Brown III
I don't think it is challenging and I don't think that education of adults should look the same as education of children (with an authority in front of the class). Education of children really shouldn't be done that way either, actually.
The biggest challenge is illustrating to the student that is believes that online learning means self study what the value of the instructor is in that environment.
Vince,
I think sometimes they get in over their heads. I have found that many students have an initial view of online as easier; however, when they get in the courses they quickly become overwhelmed with the amount of work and just stop working.
Herbert Brown III
Herbert,
Sage on the stage is a Wayne Dyer term. He is awesome. The hardest part to me is getting the student to participate in class. I have always been a hot on the job kind of guy, so I don't understand online students that will take zero after zero without ever attempting their work, especially when they are racking up a lot of student loan debt.
Sincerely,
Vince
Nanette,
Consider more "personal" postings and introductions from your students to get to know them better. Consider LIVE online video conferences for feedback, help sessions, advising, and all forms of assistance to get that more personal touch with your students.
Herbert Brown III
Nanette,
Consider more "personal" postings and introductions from your students to get to know them better. Consider LIVE online video conferences for feedback, help sessions, advising, and all forms of assistance to get that more personal touch with your students.
Herbert Brown III
Robert,
I have done this different ways, but I have also asked myself this question.... If the students can read the material, watch recordings and submit meaningful assignments that clearly show that they understand the material and can apply it to real world situations in a meaningful way, should I penalize them for not attending live sessions that might conflict with their busy lives? Isn't that why they might be taking the online classes anyway?
Herbert Brown III