Synchronous discussions may be more beneficial when guest speakers are utilized so that students can ask questions.
This module provides a great review of different interactions we can have with our students. I particularly like the ideas of having guest speakers and taking virtual tours. These activities can facilitate information that they may not find in their textbooks.
This was an introduction to using online platforms. In-person class activities and discussions may be carried out online.
What I have learned from this forum is how to create effective interaction and communication within the class. The use of assignments, discussions, asynchronous and synchronous chat, integrated hyperlinks as well as reading materials. This is information I will be able to use when I teach online.
Reply to Suzanne Boese's post: So, why do so many people say that they don't like online classes? What is it that is missing from online classes that makes it so difficult for them? Personally, I prefer online classes, especially since that's what I majored in.
Reply to rene kagan's post:These synchronous sessions can be a great way to improve teaching presence while also improving community presence in online classrooms. Have you ever had an online class where there were no synchronous sessions?
Just about anything you can do in a face-to-face classroom you can do in an online classroom. The online technologies have made this possible, but it has its limitations, so, we have to work around them. And there are a variety of ways to establish these different ways of communicating and submitting class assignments and tests. But if these are established with students there should be few problems in conducting online classes.
Although synchronous chat is a great substitute for live class interraction, as a teacher, while managining multiple streams, it is very hard to stay on top of the student chat-exchanges.
What we have at our school is blackboard discussion forum. Every week is a different topic. I really enjoy reading my student's answers and like how their classmates give them feedback on their answers. I like to read them and see them all get involved.
There were no surprises in this module piece. The one take-away was I was comparing my on-ground experience teaching to the online I have done.
Rick
You can closely replicate a classroom setting with proper planning, and a solid strategy .
Thorough instruction on the basic features of online courses
Mulitple ways to engage and encourage students to use their voices using online learning platforms.
Descriptions of communication in this section need review. For many LMS used in online instruction, students have more ways to receive feedback and collaborate than described.
I agree that online learning can engage learners in the same way as face-to-face learning. The only difference is the absence of live face-to-face human interaction.
Adapting an F2F class is definitely possible. Being flexible and adopting new methods is critical.
Great ice breaker for what is sure to be what instruction will look like in the fall.
You really can do anything in an online elearning platform that you could do in a classroom... just with some modifications.
In seeing the sections about synchronous chat and asynchronous chat, I'm struck by how video conferencing - especially in these days of COVID19 - is taken for granted as if it's always been a part of online learning. It's interesting how the content in this course, so far, speaks to when online learning was more about trying as best as possible to offer a nearly as good simulation of brick and mortar learning vs. how today, it can achieve outcomes far beyond the limits of in person, conventional classes.
Everything we do in person can be done in an e-learning environment. I will try to implement more activities online than I did in the spring if we are e-learning again in the fall.
