Charlotte Strauss

Charlotte Strauss

About me

I am a public high school teacher in Virginia.  I teach Marketing and am the DECA Advisor for our very active program.

Activity

These six courses offered to teachers like me were very informative and eye-opening as we move into unchartered territory for K-12 teaching and learning in this COVID-19 era.  My mind races with stress level elevating each day that goes by and Virginia still has not shared with public schools what the start of the 2020-2021 school year will potentially look like.  As I have done for the last 20 years, I will enter my 21st year of teaching with the same mantra - It's all about RELATIONSHIPS! And these are created through communication - and if it is all or… >>>

Data is needed to tackle course revisions.  Data can come from many sources including course outcomes, checking dynamic elements, formative and summative evaluations. You can also create a course repository and learning objects library.

 

The instructor must establish communication boundaries; communication standards should be put in place to better enhance the learning environment. Feedback is essential for the student to feel involved and part of the online community.

 

The instructor must be visible, organized and model the behavior for students to follow.  By providing expectations/rules/procedures to learners and and modeling these, the online course should be a success for both learner and instructor.  Planning and organization is key.

 

Determining what your online course is going to look like and how you want it to "feel" to students will help in your organization of the course which aids in your ability to manage all of the workload of the course.  I like thinking about the environment and all the moving parts and objectives first, then tackle design.  Its all about being a great project manager!

 

Planning and goal setting are essential for the students success not only in class, but in life.  As the student sets goals that are SMART, he will be able to link those goals in class to other life goals.  Tone and Attitude are important for the building of a community in the online class and student time management will allow for strong self confidence and course success.  The 7 principles for learner and instructor mirror each other for both to find success.

 

We may think our students know how to use technology tools and have technology skills, but many do not know beyond texting and scrolling!  Making sure students can do the simple tasks of saving and copy/paste is so essential.  When you use the word Social - it brings to mind every face to their screen scrolling the feed - but not when you add Networking to that term - creating a network working to achieve a goal.  

 

Practice of reading and writing is essential to continued success in online learning and any learning setting.  Communication is vital in order for the instructor to begin to shape the community of the class and the CoP.  Constructivism style of teaching provides the opportunity for team based learning and further community development to occur in the course. The student and instructor's reputation is also based on how well each communicate - Remember CPA!! Clear Professional Appropriate!  Check your spelling and grammer!

 

Through self analysis, the learner can better understand their motivation for online learning.  This will help the student develop time management skills and best setting for study for the online course.  Setting a schedule/set time to work on the course through the week is essential.  Asking questions early, utilizing communication, and ditching procrastination will benefit the learner and lead to success in the online class. 

 

Just like in the Face to Face setting, guidelines are necessary for both the student and the teacher to be successful in the class.  Procedures and guidelines for best practices must be communicated effectively from the beginning of the course and be accessable to students throughout the course via a syllabus or Code of Conduct.  I have found that posting, sharing, and reminding students is essential for them to get in the pattern, get in the routine of how the classroom - on line or face to face - in order for there to be a strong community of learners… >>>

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