There are numerous challenges for both learners and instructors at the beginning of any course, but online courses will have their own unique set of challenges. The first class time in a face-to-face course is spent going through the syllabus, setting course expectations for assignments, projects and examinations. During this same time considerably time is spent interacting with the learners, getting to them and allowing them to get to know you. Finally, the learners have the opportunity to ask questions for clarification of the course expectations. In an online course, these types of activities are often overlooked and the instructor spends little to no time getting to know her learners and making sure that course expectations are clearly understood.
Several activities that can be used to introduce students to how the course is set up and what the expectations are include taking a tour of the course and course tools. A video introduction of the course was created where the instructor explained how to use each of the course tools, the preferred method of communication and how to navigate the course for maximum success. The main problem that arises is getting the student to take the time to view the video and/or read everything that is provided to them. One approach that can be used to encourage the students to watch the video introduction is to send an email welcoming them and tell them that the video is available on the course home page and that they should watch it before beginning the course. Actually any email sent at the beginning of a course from the instructor can be used to provide vital course information to the learners.
The other main challenge in an online learning environment is to build a community of learners. Most students take courses online because they are busy and do not have the time to take courses in a traditional face-to-face setting or they are more comfortable in the online environment because they can maintain anonymity in the course easier. Getting students to interact online can be difficult unless it is graded and required. Asking them to post an introduction at the beginning of the course is one way to get them to interact. Another is to have course related discussions in which they are required to post their own thoughts and respond to one or more of their classmates posts.
How many course related discussions do you recommend?
ReplyDeleteThe number of course related discussions would be dependent on how long of a course you are teaching, ie 14 weeks, 8 weeks or 4 weeks, and the content in the course itself. You would want to be careful not have too many different discussions going on at the same time, unless your students could select from the different topics. But when you are assigning grades to the students for their posts, you would want the posts to be thoughtful and giving their insights to the topics, so I would advocate for substance of the discussions over the quantity any day.
ReplyDeleteOne great idea that came up in the MOTC cohort this year was the idea of using the 'buddy-system' in online courses. After the introductory discussion, ask students to pair up. The buddy-pairs become each other's 'go to' person for questions, missed chats, etc... Each student gets to know at least one student very well and it takes some of the burden for administrative 'stuff' off the instructor.
ReplyDeleteThe "buddy-system" could really benefit our international students. The buddy-pairs can support each other as they formulate their comments in English. This strategy will be very helpful since it is so difficult to engage international students in online conversations. They are generally very reluctant to post anything in writing for fear of making mistakes even though the teachers in the English Language Program (ELP) make it clear that making mistakes is part of the learning process.
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