Maimoona Khan

E-learning can create many excuses for students that are procrastinators when they do not complete work on time, especially since E-learning is independent and self directed. Ways to help students not fall behind include reminding them to complete their assignments offline and to keep a back up of their assignments to prevent it being lost if they run into technical issues. Students should also be reminded of policies and procedures regarding submission guidelines and rules for participation. They should also be made aware of any alternative ways to submit assignments and to communicate with the instructor when they run into… >>>

Asynchronous discussions are the heart of online courses and they help to maintain momentum in the course by encouraging reflection and critical thinking.

An online instructor can project their authority through academic credentials, professional experience, and achievement and students have better success when they have instructor support. 

The support infrastructure consists of learning support and technical support.

Active learning can help improve critical thinking skills of students by bringing various perspectives together along with conflicting ideas. It can help build rationals for their own  perspectives and increase their ability to communicate effectively. 

The instructor will act as the facilitator, like the director of a movie, when using active learning techniques.

Though some instructors may view active learning techniques more as entertainment for students, they can actually be quite effective in bringing together students and the instructor in the course. 

Reading how active learning techniques gained its momentum in the 80’s-90’s was incredibly interesting to me. I remember being in classroom settings and taking online courses and always feeling like my attention span was shorter during lecture only classes. Having open class discussions always helped me understand and retain information the best. 

I really value providing prompt feedback to my students that is meaningful and delivered in a positive tone to allow my students to feel as though they are listened to and that their success is important to me also.

Instructors should review asynchronous communication tools to evaluate which tools would be most essential for online communication with their students.