To establish a rapport and relationship by providing your background information as well as learning about your students through biographies as one means.
It reminded me the need to establish credibility in the eyes of my students via sharing my education and experience with the content while also making sure I understand who my learners are and what their needs are. I like the suggestion of giving students a separate area for generalized discussions on the discussion board so that they can be sure to focus on the content in the discussion board and you don't feel overwhelmed by having to sort through the different discussions to get to the ones relating to the content.
What I have learned is the importance of projecting my appearnce in an oline enviornment. This so impirtant. This will let students know that this not a fly-by-night course; it will set the presedence of who you are the course expectations.
Make it a personal experience with students to create an open and positive learning envrionment. By allowing them to see who you are gives them a connection to the faculty.
It seems teachers should try to protect the privacy of those in virtual enviroments. Educators should ask before sharing comments that are made by students to check if that is alright first. Teachers should be prepared and should spend time practicing before the actual day of presentation. Most student are very good at manipulating in a virtual environment and could actually teach others in the process. Have fun, be creative, and learn from these new teaching experiences that we are now doing.
It is important to estabilish your authority in an online course.
Using Zoom, I want to make sure participants of how their name is labeled so I can use the best way to address them. I believe a more concrete way of posting announcements, reminders, and emailing or commenting towards every individual is a task that is important.
This section reinforces the importance of creating a relationship with students through sharing my credentials, experience with online learning, and hobbies and interests that I have along with office hours and contact information. Making yourself "human" in the virtual world is extremely important. Having students provide specific information about themselves, responding to classmates, and me responding individually to each student creates the "I'm involved and here" environment from the start.
I learned that a biography from the students is as important as one from the instructor. I also learned that it is encouraged to have students reach out to one another in order to build important learning relationships.
It is just as important for the instructor to know about the students, as the students to know about the instructor. This creates an envirnment of transparency. Building a sense of bonding, so that the communication can open up and become more fluid.
"If you can't reach them... you cant teach them"
Building relationships is possible, even in the online community. Be response and make sure communications are fluid... students will apprecitae that.
Strategies and approaches used in traditional classroom are the same with online learning. Both of them are utilize to inspire, energize, influence and encourage students to be more creative and paricipative.
Student perform better when they feel that they are all on the same level. I always let them know that is OK to fail as long as you use it as an agitator to compell you to succeed. I believe that you should not send your student somewhere you haven't been. (Military, US Army)
I plan to use the student biography part to get to know my students and for them to get to know each other. I will start my class online but hope to return to on ground before the class is over. This will be a great way to meet and know more about each other.
As I already have an in-person relationship with my students from earlier in the year (before the closure), I am now needing to make sure that my online presence gives them the same "safety" that my in class presence did so they feel comfortable to ask questions, get help, and generally get something out of this experience.
Coming from an industrial background, I have a good deal of trade experience, but not nearly as much educational experience. I will focus on presenting myself accordingly as my accredidations in education are still evolving.
I am learning how to be a leader and direct the conversations/learning experiance, without being physically present to the learner.
You don't have to be an authoritharian to make your presence known and being respected.
The Projecting Your Presence Module has taught me the importance of showcasing my expertise via a short biography of myself that includes my educational credentials, achievements, and professional experience when instructing via a distant learning model. Prior to this module, I would have only stated this information on a designated website such as the school and district websites instead of embedding my information into the distant learning experience.
Distance learning has similarities with face-to-face classroom learning. The instructor must gain authority when the students know the teacher's credentials and experience.
I learned that instructors must be familiar with each student's biography in order to deliver instructions and meet the needs of individual students.
