Comment on Edgar Sanabria's post: mismo
I am a work in progress. Today, I took over a class for a comrade who went on vacation. As you might have deducted from the the word start there was no preparation for what I got myself into. Keeping it real and just saying. I was on slippery ice with the students not knowing them or me. They knew what to do in class but equipment and supplies were limited. I wanted the students to be in there perspective groups of three but fate would have it otherwise.
I though it was a matter of participation but it finalized into lack of equipment and motivational support from the students. You have leaders and followers. The advance students took the lead and supported the other students whom did not process the assignment because of being tired from work and other issues. There is a lot going on in the mind of a student. Especially a teacher who has been to war. The battle field was less challenging.
So far, I can see from the material presented as well as just me taking this course how important it is to keep students motivated and engaged. Having intermittent "activities" mixed in with the instructional sections was helpful. I appreciate that students all learn differently, and this is helping me to really think more about ways to engage students with different learning styles as well as different motivational styles as well.
Continuing to assess what is working and evaluating areas from improvement are important. Keeping lines of communication open is another reoccurring theme.
I've learned that staying on topic and using power points keep the adult learners interested in what is being taught in the class room. Hands on training is key and verbal communication is also very important when presenting your topic.
I learned a lot about being mindful of the different ways students access the material. Even though I would never consider trying to read or understand the material by looking at my phone, I need to learn to meet students in the environments that best suit their needs.
After completing this module I find that as a seasoned instructor, I am already doing most of these. I do like the content chunking portion where they can get short or smaller "clips" of information that can lead them to feel more accomplished. Getting burst of information can also help with retaining and recalling information too. Those that struggle with time management this can allow them to "fit in" things in between other things they may have going on and still accomplish their required weekly tasks.
Motivation is key to encouraging students to push through anything to accomplish their dreams. Feedback, discussions, a moment with the instructor will give them what they need to succeed.
I have learned that what we are doing is already trending in the right direction with our most active and engaged students for sure and the next tier as well that are also engaging, but may not be understanding everything that is being taught. I have determined there is a real need to engage the students who are logging on and walking away. This means they are not getting any of the online instruction that they need. It can be hard to determine exactly who is engaged an who is not. Some students also decide that during lecture is the best time to complete missing assignments. This takes away from the material being learned in lecture that may not be available in any of the other forms of study. Time is ultimately the enemy of every online student because distractions at home can pull them away from something really important. We have to find a way to keep them locked in to the learning.
I have learned the importance of online learning and engaging students in a online environment being able to use learning tools from online and encouraging participation.
It's interesting that my institution is already considering some of the suggestion mentioned. It's funny, I immediatley went and created a Slack channel for my 9 mentees. Great idea. I am always open to suggestions and these are some good ones.
Motivation is key...remember to tell students Fear is only False Evidence Appearing Real...and the only way Knowledge is power is if that knowledge is applied.
I've learned that varying my approach and style may capture the students' interest and help students be better engaged.
I have learned that engaging students online, although difficult, can be done and you can have success with this type of learning environment. This is acheived by motiviating students, empathy, and clear definitiions and guidelines. Communication is key in any learning environment but even more so in an online environment because it is easy to lose the learners to life, health, and procrastination.
I have learned that I need to make more of effort to actively engage students in the disucssions we have on Zoom. Asking questions is a start, but the students needs to feel they can particpate without fear of being judged by others. There needs to be ways to engage these students by small group activites, breakout sessions, and a gaming type of platform.
I this module, I learned about some methods that help engage online learners. I usually arrange synchronous sessions (or one-to-one meetings) to go over the assignments and answer any questions the students might have related the weekly assignments. I regularly provide feedback and ask the students to provide feedback about the course, as well.
I leaned how important is it for online learners the establishment of connections between themselves and faculty. Those connections include student-to-student and student-to-instructor interactions. Just a nice “welcome to course” email could be a beginning of the relationships. It sets the tone for the beginning and encourages students’ interactions. Putting the Instructor’s Bio information with some pictures in the announcement or student lounge, makes the relationships between the student and instructors “more human”, and the students do not get intimidated to ask questions or to share their opinions in class.
I learned that leaving efficient feedback is crucial for students’ learning experience. I should explain the students the details about what did they do right and what went wrong in their assignment. It is very important to leave positive and motivational feedback. I would send a video or audio feedback, which is liked by students. I can express emotions and excitement in those media comments that is hard to do in just typed comments.
I learned that it is useful to send friendly reminders about the due dates. Working students sometimes get busy in their part-time or full tine jobs and these reminders are always appreciated.
I believe that one of the most important elements is to hook our students with the different strategies taught in this course , as well as to trapicalize those that are specific to the course and the people , that will allow them to actively participate in forums , chat, synchronous as well as asynchronous activities, motivating them to significant learning.
Normally for each course I make a whatsapp group and invite students to join to coordinate meetings through zoom. In this way, he managed to get them interested in learning more than just obtaining a good score.
I have learned there are many ways to engage online learners and about motivational engagement.
