Trying to get students to participate in communication
I find myself using all types of communication to get students to participate in the threads. They often lose themselves after week 4.They fall off the face of the earth I am not a technological savvy person so I have learned to twitter, text, and email with the youngest of them.
I find that I must enlist modern and old types of communication in order to appeal to all types of learners in my courses.
Robin Jonas
Robin ,
We have to find a good medium to get to all students. If you have an LMS, you will probably be able to post announcements and send emails at the same time. Don't extend yourself too much, it only puts more pressure on you. ;-)
I am new to online teaching and this is my biggest fear! How do I keep the students engaged? Fortunately, I have personal experience as an online student and I can apply that.
Jennifer,
Ah - your personal experience will take you a long way. Also, I assign students to be discussion leaders. That helps too. Thanks and keep learning!
When I reply to students' discussion posts, I try to initiate a question that puts them in the position to "empathize" and explain why they would or would not consider the end result. I find that when the student can relate to the discussion material, they tend to participate and articulate their reasons on how to resolve the issue. I find that students can develop intuitive answers to resolve the issue at hand.
Loretta,
Make sure the other students do the same. I always tell the student that their post should result in others commenting back on their thought provoking post. Thanks!
Robin,
It's great you have familiarized yourself with all these "new" types of communication tools. Do you ever find this makes you too accessible to students where they think you are available 24/7?
Stephanie and Robin,
We do have to be careful not to become a 24/7 instructor. Keep those limits/rules you set in the syllabus at the beginning of the course and make sure you respond in a timely manner, but in a study I did my students said it didn't motivate them any more if I responded within 1 hour or 24 hours.
All are very good ideas Robin, since its so hard to keep track and contact with them from long distance.
Jeanelisse,
Thanks for sharing ideas through this forum. We continue to learn from each other.
Thanks again.
Getting students not to lose themselves is so difficult. I have found that with my classes only being 5 weeks I really try to pull them out during weeks 1 and 2 so by the time week 5 comes around they are communicating.
Carolyn,
With a 5 week course, you definitely need to jump in immediately to get them communicating.
Nice job.
Keeping the students engaged throughout the term of the course is a challenge. A lot of students start out strong but then lose momentum towards the end of the course. I find myself continuing to be creative in asking questions or introducing a new topic that will prompt the students to be excited in responding to the topic.
Mia,
The creative edge you speak about is so critical. Some of us are more creative than others, but we can learn from others and try more creative things. Can you share a few examples of how you are being more creative in asking questions or introducing a new topic?
I use the Discussion Board, the Live Chat, the Announcement Board and email to be sure that students know exactly what I am looking for in assignments and STILL they completely miss parts of the assignment directions. This is in an senior level class too. I even wonder if I called them if they would hear me.
Kym,
Do you use rubrics and ask students to self-assess using the rubric before they turn in the assignment/project?
