The supreme act of getting to know your e-students
I firmly believe that as teachers it is a must that we get to know our students in any context and learning situations, and there should not be any obstacles of any kind in as far as it concerns for projecting a sense of trust and confidence in order for students to open up their affective filter and to be willing to cooperate in any learning event as well as to respond to their teacher positively.
Some of my peers already stated different ways of getting to know their students, however, I want to add another point, that of ourselves, teachers to maintain the boundaries with our students as well as the classroom democratic leadership.
Furthermore, getting students engaged in decision taking throughout the course, providing descriptive rather that prescriptive timely feedback and at most importance helping students notice that they are accountable for their learning by prompting them, provoking discussions to know their viewpoints, and empathizing with them.
Although, I by no means suggest that teachers should surrender their role, on the other hand, I strongly suggest teachers to manage courses in a collaborative fashion in which learners would be highly involved and proactive, as a result the teacher would get to know his/her students further.
Marc Del Alto
Your addition to this Discussion Forum is well-taken Marc. I would like you to relfect on the factthat the implementation of your suggestions will take a reasonable amount of time and may not be fully possible when class sizes are large.
Satrohan
I agree with you, and I can think of implementation of my suggestions in such a way that these are best fitted to every course individually taking into account the number of students and what activities would be applied, since we need to approach every class with a different stragegy due to every group being different from one another.
Marc
Agree. Tailoring instructional strategies to match to match the knowledge and skill levels of students as well as their characteristics is a sound principle of teaching, Marc.
I took several courses on line when I was in Arizona and we were given certain options about what books to read and what questions to reflect on. When I was teaching university last year I gave my students options for certain tasks and project. everything turned out to be ok but I can see that this can be a delicate subject. especially when grading.
Rodolfo
Thank you for sharing your experience with us Rodolfo.
Satrohan
i think without a personal connection made by the instructor the class would not be as rewarding
Max:
I agree. I recommend that Instructors initiate contact to the entire class as a group on Day One; then send a personal message to each student before the ending of the first week; then continue to build and maintain student-teacher relationships as the course progresses.
Satrohan.
I also agree. Instructors should have a "human side" portrayed to the student with the interaction of a personal message to the student and initiating contact with the entire class.
I teach both online and live classes, I want them to know who I am and I want to know who they are.
Hi Carla!
Sometimes the "human factor" is lost in the online environment; personal messages from the instructor, as you referenced, are ways to personalize the course and keep the connectivity in tact.
Additionally, sometimes I have utilized student bios to look for commonalities among the learners, then brought that focus into the learning objectives of the online course - it helps to customize the learning experience, just a little, without comprimising the requirements of the course.
Jay
EL102 Facilitator
I send a welcome letter the first day and post a bio. The students are asked to post a bio the first week, and I respond to each student's bio. Then because it is a fundamental English class, the students write a journal entry each week and talk about anything that is on their minds. They not only get comfortable in writing down their thoughts in a nonthreatening environment (no points off for grammar etc.), but I also use this as a way to connect with the students by commenting on whatever they are sharing. It is our own private conversation just as if we were on campus. You can then post a grammar tip for the week to the entire class that highlights errors that are made.
I admire you! Teaching fundamental English in person takes a great deal of teaching skill but teaching it online requires even more! You have made some great suggestions about getting students involved in the class. Thanks for sharing.
During the course of my class, I post off beat discussion forums that encourage students to participate and provide more biographical information about themselves.
I like to ask, "What are three things about you that no one knows about you?" Students come up with several funny and interesting responses. They really enjoy the ability to get off the material and decompress and get to know each other a bit better.
Great idea Melissa. It is a nice way for students to get to know each other. I would caution you to make sure that the questions aren't too personal so that they make students uncomfortable.
Thanks for sharing with the group!
