Establishing a Teaching Pattern
When establishing a pattern of teaching, what do you believe are the two most important things to consider?
When establishing a pattern of teaching, I believe the two most important things to consider are communication and content delivery. Establishing clear expectations for the students, providing timely feedback and interacting with students on a consistent basis helps the students success. Content delivery allows students to be able to complete course activities in a central location, making it easy to receive feedback from the instructor.
Rakisha,
Great post. Those two items are so important and are connected to each other. Both require consistency to work well.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I agree. First communication is vital. The students need to know the objectives of the learning activity. This will enable them understand what is expected to be achieved at the end of the activity and therefore stick to guidelines.
Secondly content delivery is crucial for it informs the student which direction and what depth to go in the learning activity.
Philemon,
You are right. Hopefully the LMS helps you direct students what they need to do to meet objectives.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Good question Dr Kelly!
When establishing a pattern of of teaching I believe that the two most important things to consider are clarification of the subject matter , or course expectations, and clarity of ease to find supportive materials that will help the students to be successful in an "online course.
~Genieve
Genieve,
Great point! We do need to really use and encourage students to use the LMS. That can be the biggest asset and barrier to online learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson,
I think the two most important things to consider when establishing a pattern of teaching are communication and content delivery.
Communication is vital to a students success. I try and communicate through a variety of means (emails, announcements, Discussion Board posts, etc.). I find that it is the students who engage the most in communication with me, often find the most success in the course.
Content Delivery is very important, b/c our students all have there own learning styles. So it is essential that we have a wide range of delivery methods for the course content to accommodate these different learning styles.
Anthony,
Great points! You are right, communication is the thread that "sews" the content together and makes it all work together. Communication has to be continual and at times repetitive.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I think that the two most important things to consider when establishing a pattern of teaching are: 1.) consistent and regular practices
2.) establishing and setting regular times of availability.
Patricia,
Consistency is the key! Students have to know they can depend on you as the instructor to provide that consistency when time may not be consistent.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Kelly,
When establishing a pattern of teaching, I find two things important to be that of, communication and with that I mean as frequent and often as possible, especially for an asynchronous presentation and consistency (though not listed as an option) because when a teacher demonstrates this they are leading by example, then students understand what is expected, when it is expected and what the outcomes may or may not be depends on them, it helps the flow of the class.
Michael
Michael,
You are right, consistency and communication are the cornerstone of good teaching. It is up to the instructor to set the example. The instructor is the learning leader even though the student is the center of the learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Communication is very important in a learning environment. One of the things that I do is set the expectations up front and reiterate them during the five week period that we have together. My students can't always make it to the live chats so we use messages and discussion boards in our environment. The other thing we do is communicate not only with email but with text messaging if they don't get the work done. I always work with them and they appreciate that.
Communication and content delivery is important, but I really look to also making the expectations very clear. Students can then focus on how they can take a project or an assignment further when the clearly know what the expectation is.
- Ty
Marie,
When you are teaching in five week periods, you are challenged to create a engaging environment in such a short time. You really have to make sure expectations are set and set quickly. Students do love text messaging.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Ty,
I agree with you. Do you use rubrics to set that expectations particularly when doing an assignment?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Yes. Rubrics are required to give proper feedback on every assignment. It also allows the students to clearly see where they need to improve.
- Ty
Ty,
Good, rubrics does clarify expectations for the students and guide the instructor in grading.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
One of the two most important things to condsider when establishing a pattern of teaching is communication. Instructors need to establish trust from the student by communicating to them the importance of their success. The second important aspect is content delivery. Students need to recieve the information in a way they are receptive to learn. The instructor should be enthusiastic and incorporate the material into the student's thoughts and life so they are able to grasp the content.
