I learned that it is important to get to know your students and establish a relationship with each one. Also, I learned that it is important to project and maintain your presence from a distance.
During this learning exerience, I have developed a sense of importance of getting to know your students. The biography route is a definite plus in sharing some info that I will incorporate.
The information in this course is looking at small class sizes and older students. While much of the information will work with my students, a course with 15-20 students is very different than one with 120-150 students.
I need to give my experiance in the area I am teaching to give the student a better comfort level. I also need to maintain control of all aspects of the learning enviroment to insure productive and undistracted learning.
I have learned from this section that it is important to build relationships with your students. You should develop trust, respect, and consideration with your students. You need to energized classroom by promoting an enriched, meaningful, and dynamic learning experience.
That was very insightful! Being new to the on-line environment, we are still getting used to all the tricks of the trade. I feel that using a video to introduce yourself in great idea for the start of a new mod. This way the instructor isnt just some abstract mystery person. Great ideas!!
I've learned that it is necessary to project my presence by initiating, leading, and monitoring synchronous and asynchronous discussions, as well as preparing myself mentally to provide attention and answers to questions for learners. Build an e-learning community by asking students for a short bio and include a bio of myself supported with audio or video and scripts. Now I have an idea of the kind of information that students can provide in their bio.
It's very important for the students to have faith in your credentials and knowledge of the subject area so that they feel confident in learning your course content. Allowing the students to know you and your getting to know them will help the course room another and allow you to interact more in the course.
Online learning should be as simplimlar to inclassroom as possible
I learned the importance of connecting with my students. I need to share my Biography with them and encourage them to share their Biography with me and the rest of the class.
Class introductions are as important in an online class as it is in a traditional face to face class--maybe even more important. You only get one chance to make a good first impression.
I learned the importance of getting to know you students and ways to do so from a distance.
Providing feedback to students' assignmnets is very effective in projecting the teacher's presence in an e-learning environment.
A great way to project your presence is to let your students know about your credentials, but also let them know about some things related to your career where you have made a difference in the lives of others. This can go a long way to humanize you to your students.
Projecting and maintaining your presense and authority from a distance is important. Establishing a relationship with each student is important.
Our current learning environment was thrust upon us as a result of the closing of all schools in the state. Relationships had already been established between teacher-students and student-student. Had this not been the case, cultivating and maintaining these relationships is paramount to student as well as instructor success. I check in weekly with my students via a weeklt reflection assignment they are given at the end of each week. They are free to share what they learned during the week, what they were successful at and why, what they could have done better at and why, a goal they have for the next week and a "I would like to tell my teacher" prompt. Over the years, I have found out a great deal about my students as human beings and been able to refer students to appropriate follow up care as determined by their responses.
More than anything else, this module has confirmed for me the importance of relationships even at a distance. And that creating connection is as important virtually as it is within the classroom walls.
I've already been practicing all of these items brought up- but one thing I would like to add- occasionally- and briefly- be funny. Not necessarily tell jokes, but be spontaneous, human in your commentary. This can tend to help students realize that there is a human on the other end of there laptop. Be careful- never berate a student- for humor or otherwise- it could cause more damage than when in a classroom- they may not pick up as easily online that you made a comment in jest about them...
The idea of knowing the student's bio and the students having knowledge of the teacher's bio is a good teaching mechanism for professional confidences.
Creating relationships with students can be more challenging in an online environment. There were several suggestions of how to establish relationships using biographies that I am thankful to have.
