The importance of clear, concise, complete, timely and professional communication with your online students, developing the safe community for the students to operate within, preparing the students for success

Reminder of meeting all needs of students by using UD techniques, seeing the benefit of using video announcements, helping the students manage their time, posting tips on how to be successful with online learning, providing more and better instructions to online assignments.

I teach all adults in a post-military online environment. I really enjoyed the suggestions of allowing students to "test out" of certain topics since some students have already mastered some of the topics I teach. I also like giving them the choice on how I deliver the information. I'd also like to leverage student experiences in the way I teach some topics since we all share a common background with the military. 

I would like to hear how you use polls, chat, breakout rooms, or screen sharing to encourage meaningful participation. Have any tools made an activity more difficult, and how did you adapt?

This module helped me understand that digital tools are most effective when they support a clear learning objective. Chat, polls, breakout rooms, and screen sharing can each encourage participation, but the activity needs clear instructions and a meaningful purpose. I also learned the value of alternating short presentations with opportunities for students to practice, discuss, and demonstrate their understanding.

I intend to apply these ideas in my classes. For example, I could use a poll to check students’ understanding of a marketing concept, then have small groups develop a promotional strategy in breakout rooms. Each group would share its ideas,… >>>

Presenting content in a myriad of ways is essential in reaching students of varying backgrounds and lifelonbg experiences. Many online learners are FT parents and/or employees, so it is helpful creating efficient bite-sized learning segments with a short quiz, to maintain confidence and retention for online student with busy lives. 

This module reinforced that engagement in live online teaching needs to be planned intentionally. Delivering information alone does not tell me whether students understand it. Short explanations followed by purposeful interaction give students opportunities to participate and help me identify where they need additional support. I also learned that interactive tools are most effective when they have clear instructions and connect directly to the learning objective.

I intend to break longer lectures into smaller segments and follow each segment with a chat question, poll, or practical activity. .

I would use their responses to decide whether to clarify a concept… >>>

One of the biggest things I learned from this module is that teaching online shouldn't simply be taking what I would do in a traditional classroom and moving it to Zoom. Students need opportunities to participate and interact with the material instead of spending most of the class listening to a lecture or watching a presentation.

Going forward, I want to be more intentional about breaking up my presentations with questions, polls, discussions, breakout rooms, and activities. I also want to pay closer attention to whether students are actually understanding the material rather than focusing on how much content I… >>>

This section is the most important for me. Motivation is the key to success in resting a student. Keeping a student engaged, effectively communicating with empathy, building rapport, while enhancing their quality of experiences in class.

Technology offers so many ways to communicate, continued education, accessibility, time flexibility amongst other things. Staying current on technology while still building personal connections gives educators a healthy balance.