I learned that it is just as important online as it is in face to face instruction to get to know your students and for your students to get to know you. You just have to do it in different ways.
I found that making your presence known in an online setting is critical to your students success. The fact is, students want to know that an instructor is there, not just a computer screen. Taking the time to send out reminders, add information to a QA forum, having office hours, and more are all great ways to allow your students know that you are there to help.
It is important to post a biography to establish authority and relate to the students
I learned that it would be a good idea to introduce yourself by talking about your credentials and possibly your hobbies and interests. Then let the students talk about themsleves through a short biography and get to know each other. Both of these help to proide a meaningful learning experince.
To know the students and sharing your experience will allow an interactive relationship and give the student more confor withing the group
Ensuring students have access to their instructor and the instructor is knowledgable are key to online teaching success.
Projecting Presence:
The goal of making it more presonable and create a little bit of community makes sense.
You can project your presence by merely developiong a common ground with your students. I feel like this is important, in order for the students to get the feeling you are another relatabeable human being as they are.
This gives some good ideas of the depth of communication that needs to occur for a good online class. The class must be conducted in a much more than assigning multiple choice questions and unread discussions.
I think it is important to build rapport with online students as you would in a regular classroom setting. Posting a short biography of yourself and requiring students to post a biography is a great way to begin establishing that rapport.
I've learned what i'm already doing but to continue to reinforce togetherness and being transparent with students.
It is important for you and your students to get to know each other. Students should feel like they have an instructor who wants them to succeed and are there for them when they need help.
In Module 2, I have discovered the importance of building my online presence related to the motivation and respect aspects of my classroom. I've learned how to project and maintain my authority in online learning using my traditional classroom strategies. I am reminded that student success is built and maintained by healthy relationships, mutual respect, purposeful, and meaningful content and support provided in a timely and measured manner. I plan to implement the online Biography assignment as my first assignment, as well as messaging all students individually that first week and commenting personally. I think I will use a second assignment as engaging with peers and their biographies. This will provide a "channel" for us as a group to engage each other and get to know one another.
Having a personal rapport and transparency helps engage a relationship that is essential to learning.
The recommendation for the instructor to draft a short biography and email it with a welcome message to students by the first day of the course is a good virtual introduction. The student biography continues the introductions and provides a good means of building a relationship with the students.
What have you learned from this module?
I learned that it is essential to initiate, lead, monitor, and manage discussion sessions to project your presence in an online platform effectively. It is also vital to oversee team projects, providing a response to any discussion questions, and providing constructive feedback to students within a 24 hour turnaround time. It is also important to be well prepared to teach each session and ensure that your responses to students are thorough and accurate. The students should also receive reminders regarding deadlines that are coming up and instructor office hours.
How do you intend to apply it?
I plan on continuing to make sure I'm well prepared to teach each class session and providing my students with constructive feedback within 24 business hours. I have also notified my students of my virtual office hours. I send daily reminders of assignment deadlines.
I like the suggestion of having the students posting a biography. This way students will be able to get to know each other and determine common interests.
I learned that the same things I do in face to face teaching needs to occur in an online environment. I need to know my students and allow them to get to know me.
Online instructors should create a biography at the onset of class. The biograhy should include credentials, experience, and a hobby.
There must be a teacher student connection even in an online platform. Teachers should provide professional education and experience to students and students should be invited to post a introductional background on themselves for other classmates to review.
