I have been teaching in the online environment for 11 years and thoroughly enjoy being the "Guide" through the students educational journey. I have found that communication is key as well as creating a warm, comfortable environment for them to be a part of. I have also found the students enjoy seeing pictures of me as well as their classmates. It helps build a positive community. Jean Morrison

I have been teaching online for 11 years with several different institutions and this is the first experience I have had with Live Chat sessions. I have to admit, I am very disappointed with the involvement of students. I have yet to have more than 2 students attend the Live Session even though I have tried various ways to get them to join me. I would love to hear some ways that others have encouraged students to attend the event. Jean Morrison

I have not had the opportunity to use Wiki in the online classroom and unfortunately am not to familiar with it as a tech tool. I have a colleague who is very tech savvy and I am going to meet with her so she can give me a hands-on learning experience with it. I think it would be a great tool to utilize if done properly. Jean Morrison

I think it is imperative that we respond to the students request within 24 hours. I think timely turn around and quality feedback is essential to the success of the student progress. The instructor sets the tone for the course and if they are not present then the students may feel that they should not be.

As an online instructor I make it my duty to contact each student before the class starts in order to introduce myself and to see if they have any questions, concerns or issues. I also watch participation and scores and if I see someone is lost or lack of attendance/participation. I then decide to contact them for one on one counseling. It is easy to lose a student due to being online so you have to take that extra steps to pull them back and get the actively engaging.

The discussion board is a great place for leveraging knowledge, it can also be a gateway for disruption. Monitor the discussion board daily, try to read between the lines and connect with each student and their style of learning. If you encounter a disruptive student, address them head on and create firm requirements going forward. Engage those quite learners by guiding their thoughts and conversation to pull them into the full cycle of the discussion.

Online learning fosters unique types of learners, instructors need to appeal to each type of learner and engage each respectively. Perhaps, a good method is creating thinking, posing a question that is inline with the unit content and review/ share the responses. Some students are natural writers whereas others maybe thinkers and work best in groups. Find out what appeals and work toward that direction.

An instructors presence can be created by introductory powerpoints, weekly adding images of self and relating those images to the course content. Sharing real life experiences inline with assignments and weekly lectures. Incorporate real life scenarios with course content and student activity.

Prior to class commencement, send online learners a list of expectations, methods of success for online learning. Remove negative thoughts and center the focus on success of completing expectatons for common goal.

HI Folks, this concept terms scaffolding within this content I most closely associate with Constructivist learning theory. The concept of course is that new learning is built upon previous knowledge and learning.

Hi all, One thing that I encountered at one school where I taught was a student with what seemed to be a mental illness. I say this because she disclosed - publicly, in the discussion area! - that she had urges to kill people. She even mentioned that her psychologist had told her to talk about it because it was better to talk about it. She would also attack students (in writing) if they mentioned being gay. When I tried to talk to her about it (privately/email), she got upset and told me that she had done nothing wrong. What was worse was that when I attempted to contact the school, they said there was nothing wrong. It wasn't until the class was over that they sent a message to her (copied to me) saying that her postings were inappropriate. I no longer teach at that school, but I was wondering if anyone else had run into similar issues with online students and how they handled it? Thanks, Kate

Hi all, At my college, they have begun using "blogs" for student introductions/welcomes. In the past, this was done through the discussion boards. I have found that students (and instructors, too!) seem to ignore the blogs. Where I used to get multiple responses and be able to build a bit of a community, there have been classes where no one has responded to my attempts to build a dialogue/introduction blog. Does anyone else use the blog feature for this? Any success stories/ideas? Thanks, Kate

We should also consider the various learning styles of students and how this might influence choices in presenting course content online. It's important to be aware of the different learning styles and recognize opportunities to present information in a different way to help a student understand. Learning Styles Visual (spatial) meaning that your students may prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding in which case you might want to incorporate images or graphics in some of your content – this can be done via PowerPoint presentations Aural (auditory-musical) meaning that your students may prefer using sound and music in which case you might want to include some short audio clips. Verbal (linguistic) meaning that your students may prefer using words, both in speech and writing which is easily presented in this venue since most content defaults to a text-based format Physical (kinesthetic) which means your students may prefer using their body, hands and sense of touch. Unfortunately unless you have some hands-on assignments or activities you can develop and then ask your students to report their experiences, may prove difficult to accommodate in this style Logical (mathematical) meaning that your students may prefer using logic, reasoning and systems in which case you would engage them in dialogue in the threaded discussions using a variety of questioning techniques such as “Have you thought of this possibility? Or “What are your thoughts about…?”. Social or interpersonal preferences meaning that your students may prefer to learn in groups or with other people. The eCollege platform allows us to assign group work to accommodate this learning style. Then there’s the threaded discussion where, if you successfully foster a sense of community through the use of something like a peer review requirement, your students will actively add that value-added component to the educational experience for all. Solitary (intrapersonal) meaning your students prefer to work alone or prefer self-study. This is accomplished via individual assignments such as homework, research assignment, journal entries, or individual projects.

I think it's important to reach out. You need to make your presence well known in an online classroom and you can do this by providing customized feedback in the gradebook, in-depth discussion replies to students that further the discussion, and even encouraging emails (without emailing any sensitive or confidential data). Sometimes my students will get 100% on a quiz, and I'll shoot a quick email - "Great job on the Week 3 quiz - your efforts were noticed!!" Something as simply as that has yielded positive comments from students. Of course, within the quiz itself or gradebook, there should be more detailed feedback about ways to improve and areas that were done well. In addition to using the students name and specifically address points earned/deducted (instead of generic responses), I also try to use the 'sandwich' approach in the feedback. The 'sandwich' approach is to praise something done well, then critique an area (if needed), and end with more praise...

Having used rubrics that are issued and used in each marking period I agree that they must be presented well. A student can have seen the same rubric all marking period and still not understand how they earned the grade issued.

I am currently using Sakai as the online course template and the resources tool is a perfect opportunity to create an object database.

Here's a sample of my bio that I share with my students. What do you think? Can others share theirs as well? Allow me to introduce myself! Hey Gang… For those of you who don’t know me…my name is Kimberly Langer (please call me Kim) and I am your instructor for the duration of the course. Believe it or not, this is not all I do. I also have a full-time job where I am the Director of a group that does product development based on the coding policies that are published in the HIM industry (my job is a perfect example of how broad the opportunities that come with a billing and coding background can be). I enjoy it very much – it also helps me provide valuable information to you in the classroom related to current industry topics. My educational background includes an AAS in Health Information Technology, a BS in Community Health Education and an MS in Health Information Management. In my spare time I really enjoy spending time playing or watching any sport…, hanging out with my friends, reading, watching movies and relaxing with my three pets (2 cats, Annie and Billie; 1 dog Bingo). I am an open book so if you would like to know anything else please do not hesitate to ask. Have a wonderful day! Kim

I cannot stress enough just how valuable synchronous teaching is. I have been teaching online for almost 9 years now for several institutions, and only one uses synchronous components. While they are all good schools, the one with synchronous chat/lecture time is the one that students seem to stay most connected to from an undergrad perspective. Grad students tend to stay on target regardless, but undgrad students gain more value and stay enrolled more with this functionality in place.

One way to engage students in discussion forums is to provide resources that tie the topic to current events, this way students have a more visual representation of the topic.

As an instructor it is important to establish your presence in the course and welcome calls are a great way to start!