Mary JoAnn LeClaire

Acknowledging the student's emotions, thoughts and feelings and concerns tells the students that we are willing to listen to their concerns and that they are deserving our attention.

I learned that it is important to engage and communicate with students through announcements via video, building a personal connection with the students so that they are open to you and timely feedback by making sure that you are responding to student's email ASAP or their questions.

What I learned is that online student learners have to be a self advocate and starter in order to be successful online student.  Also, online students tend to be non-traditional students.

How the whole institution as a whole makes a big difference why the students stay in school.  This is based on how the student feel they are welcome and belong to the institution.

What is taught is just as important as how it is taught.  As an online instructor, it is good to give students tips about time management.

Social networking for online is used for student engagement, collaboration, and communication.  This provides the opportunity for students to engage in real-time learning environment.

What I learned from this module is that as an online instructor, one must be a very good communicator.  You need to be able to communicate with your students so that they understand what you are saying and what you are expecting them to do.  So one needs to deliver a thorough instruction as to what you are asking them to do.

Supporting students on an online environment is crucial.  Here are some ways to help online students, identifying those with disability, identifying the types of learners the students are, and making sure that you have an open communication with the students.  

There are different types of behavior that one can come across in an asynchronous environment.  There are noisy, intimidator, procrastinator and quiet ones, just to name a few.  As an instructor, they need to be handled differently to maintain control of the class by setting clear expectations for participation and I may need to reach out to them individually.

There are different types of learners.  As an instructor, I will need to be conscientious about this in order to engage all the students.  I can make sure that I modify my lesson plan accordingly to apply and engage the different learners.