I really like the examples of positive language and the ARCS email model. While this will be my first school year starting as an online teacher, I feel like the ARCS model should be taught to all pre-service teachers. While often public school teachers don't teach online courses, this model would be helpful for addressing parents' and students' questions over email. I use the ARCS model generally, but it took me some time to learn how to write an effective parent communication. Knowing this right off the bat would be very helpful for new teachers.

While much of my interaction with my students this year will be through video conferencing, it seems like one of the most important things I will need to do at the beginning of the year will be to set norms for communication between students and with me. This is especially true for written communication. I intent to be very clear about the methods by which students should contact me and each other, and what type of language and tone should be used in communication. Professional communication skills are important for any workplace, so the additional benefit to this lesson is… >>>

While most of this is geared to working with adult online learners, I will be working with high school aged online learners. Out of the 7 learning competencies mentioned, I think that I will need to emphasize self-advocacy and also online collaboration. Most of my students feel comforatable advocating for themselves in a traditional classroom and collaborate with their peers. However, I worry that these skills may not come as easily to them online. Therefore, I plan to teach these concepts at the beginning of the year and reinforce them throughout.

This module has reiterated what I already knew - that a strong classroom climate is imperative to retaining students. My course is an elective, and students can choose to drop it. Keeping enrollment in my class means keeping my program going. It will be important for me to retain my students this year, and in years to come. I hope that subsequent modules in this course will offer strategies to establish a positive rapport with students in an online environment. 

I plan to discuss the 7 Principles of Learning with my students, as well as expectations for nettiquite. Engaging students in a process of setting norms for communication online is an activity that will help create student owernship of the culture of the class, and create buy-in. Also the 7 Principles of learning when discussed from both the student and teacher perspective help to set expectations for student/teacher and student/student interactions that will help to promote a positive class culture, and make the online classroom a comfortable and safe environment in which to ask for help from both instructor and… >>>

Just as in a regular classroom, a variety of tools should be used to deliver both synchronous and asynchronous instruction to students. A variety of methods ensures that multiple learning styles are addressed, and therefore boosts student engagement just as in a face to face classroom. 

I plan to communicate to students how I would like them to communicate with me, and provide a modified list of what to include in their communication. For example, I want to remind students to include a discriptive subject line and to include their name at the bottom of the communication. Also, I already implement a learning community within my classroom, and I plan to structure my online class to enable students to support each other in small group break-out settings. However, I also plan to engage students in planning a rubric for participation in these small group settings to… >>>

I like the idea of providing students with an online learner self-assessment. However, I would probably tailor it more to their knowledge of the technology being used for instruction. It will also be important to teach students how to use the online system, and provide expectations for how to interact in the online environment just as it would be in the traditional classroom. I like the idea of explaining to students how to use certain features of the system, and then allowing them a few minutes to practice with those features. I plan to incorporate this type of instruction into… >>>

I, too, like the idea of PBL. However, I've generally seen this referred to as "Project-Based Learning." In my classroom, I frequently use Project Based Learning. I am able to seamlessly incorporate content and skills into each project, and students learn organically by completing the projects. Students often say it is a nice "break" from the traditional forms of teaching, and many students discover that they learn best by hand-on, project-based learning. It is a great way to teach and for students to learn, and helps some students who have been labeled as "struggling" in other areas to discover how… >>>

I love the idea of students actually "doing." Any kind of display of students' learning shows students' mastery of concepts, and builds self-esteem. Addtionally rubrics are a great way to evaluate students. They are also a great way to communicate expectations of students for a particular project. Engaging students in a "rubric-building" activity is a great way to promote class expectations, and provide students with ownership of their class performance. When students design the rubric, they have an active voice in discussing what makes a strong project and a weak project, and are ultimately determining the academic standards to which… >>>