Elivett,
That is so important. That is the role of the facilitator is to help your students build their learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
lance,
This is so important. You want to make sure students understand the tools the schools offer and we as instructors need to use them.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I typically encourage students to write on the discussion board and flush out ideas. This helps when beginning to write for the individual assignments. I also provide resources thru the library
I think it is important that students first understand what is expected from them in regard to communication. I include in the syllabus information related to writing such as spelling and grammar guidelines, word counts, citing of sources etc. When it comes to reading, I explain the reason why reading the text and other supplemental material is helpful to learning the course content and meeting the objectives. When it comes to communication and how to communicate, this too is explained in the syllabus and includes when they can expect a response from me for email, my phone number and when to call, such as office hours and other times that I am available. If a find a student has emailed me information that would be more beneficial with a conversation, I will ask the student to call me or to set up an appointment to discuss the issue or concern.
I feel it is very important to tie in the real world consequences to deficiencies in reading, writing and communication skills. Of course this needs to be married with access to a variety of resources to assist. Primarily I work with students in their writing deficiencies. I assist in identifying errors and deficiencies. Next I relate to how a healthcare professional may make an unfair judgment about your due to poor written communication skills. Students in my courses will need to communicate effectively with physicians. A physician is going to judge your writing skills and link them to your coding skills. Don't let them judge you! Let's get your skills polished and ready to make the best impression you can.
I believe I help students improve their reading, writing, and communication skills by leading by example through posts, e-mails and more. Also, by encouraging a higher standard from my students in the syllabus, rubric and requirements of a citation for their work. I also do take points off for improper grammar and spelling. I do this in an effort to help students improve in the future.
My students love when I share the following reading tips:
Tips if you are confused by the reading:
• Slow down.
• Reread the passage.
• Work on unfamiliar vocabulary – figure out words from the context clues, or surrounding information, and roots, suffixes, and prefixes of words, and also look up difficult words in the dictionary.
• Research the basic topic so you have enough background knowledge about the subject matter.
• Review your notes or the instructor’s outline for additional clues.
• Get help from your instructor, a learning resource or center or a peer.
• Take notes while reading.
• Read or create questions to focus yourself on determining the essential points in the reading.
Feedback in the threads and on assignments.
Requiring student to read material and provide some time of writing exercise to reflect their understanding is big help. For example, in my English Composition course, I put a journal topic on the board daily to encourage writing instead of waiting until it's time to do an essay. My rational behind giving my students journal topics is to encourage them to write and to become more confident in their ability to write. I also utilize this same method in my other courses.
It is important to provide to them specific feedback that only targets a few areas at a time. If students get their assignment all marked up, they will get scared and stop trying. By using a method of carrot and stick, or basically rewarding them for correcting pointed out mistakes and pointing out new areas to work on each time, student feels safe and guided at the same time.
Reading, writing, and communication are skills that should be practiced daily just like a musical instrument. Assignments need to be given which will allow the students to develop and improve these skills.
I have two approaches to improving communication skills. 1) I like to model proper professional communication for my students. 2) I provide tools, resources and materials that students can use to improve their communication skills.
I like that... repeat... repeat and repeat... I may have to borrow that...
Do students still enjoy live chat sessions or do they prefer pre-recorded instructional content? I am wondering if there has been a shift in this area related to our instructional model...
As the lesson pointed out, it is good practice to provide tips and techniques to improve these skills. I post these kinds of tips on a weekly basis and build them throughout the sessions so I have a good set to work with. Feedback is essential for the writing and communication skills, so my grading feedback is extensive in this regard.
This is challenging in my Composition course because it s a research-based writing course. This means students have to use their communication skills to write different genres of essays with specific purposes/topics. So, there is a expectation of a minimum set of skills for students to enter with.
However, I see many issues around reading skills and plagiarism. I see many of my students not possessing the reading comprehension skills to be able to paraphrase properly instead of falling into "mosaic" writing.
Early on in my course, I discuss, define, and give examples of paraphrases. We then talk about the process of reading, comprehending, and synthesizing so that students are able to create a new statement and apply it to their purpose instead of just regurgitate what they read in the exact same wording.
This is a challenging question for me. I teach math and most of the writing that takes place in my online courses are on the discussion board. When I try to help my students improve their writing skills I generally look for the following:
1) Technical skills. Although this is often emphasized last, it is the easiest to see. I look for proper spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. These are big red flags. Everyone must write in their careers, so I try to help train my students into properly constructed sentences.
2) Clarity of writing. I like to see my students get to the point, but not to be so terse as to seem dis-interested in the topic of discussion. Most students fit the bill on this one, but I do occasionally have the one sentence reply. I encourage these students to elaborate. More rarely I have students who are too "fluffy". I encourage them to trim it up to emphasize their main point more clearly!
Best,
Brian Stout
Hello,
This is a very interesting topic. To me the most effective way of beginning the process of improving reading writing, and communication skills is to provide available resources and examples to our students. In the past, I have employed these methods at the very beginning of my course in a section I entitle "Tips on being successful in this class". There I provide grammar links as well as referencing examples to help with the reading/writing skills. The internet is an excellent tool for practicing and improving such skills. As far as communication, I think the biggest example is the instructor. As a result, I typically do my best to be an effective communicator. I base this on the following principle: communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication. A successful message and sign of good communication is when my thoughts and ideas are portrayed and understood effectively. I also like to provide "free" online links for training and understanding the importance of effective communication.
A great methodology to assisting students to improve writing skills is to provide a writing guide with clear and precise expectations informing them of the requirements of the coursework.
The guide should include content regarding preparation of how to format and structure essays, completing the written document by researching topics and citing sources.
Encouraging the students to review for spelling and grammar errors and to edit and revise their paper accordingly is also helpful.
The writing guide can be utilized as a point of reference for the students to ensure they meet the requirements.
At my current career college we provide the students with additional tools and resources such as web links to assist in citing references, as well as links for spell check and grammar check. We also furnish resources such as the Writing lab and the Library to assist students to improve their writing skills.
The key to help student improve their communication skills is to prove both clear expectations and a guide on how to meet those expectations. Clear expectations are important because students need to know the level of communication you expect of them. Discussing the importance of being clear, polite, appropriate and focus helps them understand why you have those features as expectations. Also including expectations on citation and writing format reduced their uncertainty with both.
Once you share your expectations with students the next step is to provide guidelines on how to meeting. Providing them with example, explanations and even links to writing website enables them to learn how to preform at the level desired.
