Staying engaged in your online courses helps to keep students engaged. Grading timely and participating in discussions helps. Motivating and letting students know what is going well helps. I also know from personal experience providing some constructive ideas lets students know that you have truly looked at their work.
Differences between synchronous and asynchronous discussions. That student participation and interactions is very beneficial for the students.
Asynchronous discussion forums allow users to read and critically think through their answer to a question, then type their answer and re-read it to ensure that he or she is relating the information intended. This also gives shy users or those with language barriers and slow readers time to reflect on the discussion and what is actually being asked before posting a reply. This, in turn, encourages those users to participate whereas a synchronous discussion may move too quickly and deter those users from participation.
I liked the part on small group discussions.
Comment on Edric Leggett's post:
Hi Edric. It is interesting how these inhibitory styles are often blind spots to learners while being so obvious to others. It will take careful focus to inspire the "avoidant" learner to get involved.
One of the more difficult aspects of teaching - in-person or online - is getting learners to accept feedback that can influence future responses. First, to be effective, feedback needs to be rather prompt when the issue is still present in learners' minds. Even so, humans do not generally like to hear corrective comments. The instructor-learner relationship needs to be established so that guidance can be accepted. Learners need to be taught how to offer effective peer feedback. This could lead to self-analysis which is the likely the best feedback.
This section is very informative with great strategies for online teaching.
I have learned that there are at least six learning styles; three of them are inhibitory and must be mitigated or addressed in some form.
That keeping a specified time for outside discussions among students can help them keep focused when necessary.
Having your synchronous discussions be with only one student at a time was interesting to me. I was under the assumption that the classes would be synchronous, as that is what I am used to coming from college during Covid-19. All of my courses for a little over 1.5 years were synchronous, so I was under the assumption that for the brain break the answer would be all students.
Now I notice that it was talking about asynchronous courses and how to deal with students falling behind or just casual check ins, do them one on one!
Knowing which type of communication is best for certain situations in an online learning environment is important. You must chose a type of communication that is appropriate for the situation.
Instructors must understand that asynchronous discussions occur at different moments within a given weekly timeframe and are the heart of any online course. In contrast, synchronous discussions occur in real-time and are often called chat sessions and afford opportunities for socializing. Moreover, instructors should recognize that there is no specific learning style. Instead, students can have more than one learning style to different degrees. When giving feedback, the wording must encourage participation, confidence, and motivation and be constructive when needed.
Fostering communication is essential for both on line and traditional classrooms. Finding what works is always tricky, but sticking to what is working is key.
Active participation from the instructor is important to functional discussions. Whether it be synchronous or asynchronous, the instructor should be active, discuss important topics, be sure to guide the discussion to stay on track, and be sure to comment regularly. Setting standards and discussing netiquitte is important as well.
Understanding the difference between asynchronous and synchronous discussions is very important to the success of online courses and student learning outcomes.
Asynchronous discussions allow for more reflection and perhaps more participation results. Synchronous discussions allow students social time to compare notes with each other.
"Entice learners to interact with each other by responding to groups of related responses rather than individual messages, and by encouraging learners to comment on a selected learner's response."
I learned the difference between synchronous and asynchronous discussions, how to structure activities
I have learnt about the guidelines towards effective asynchronous and synchronous discussions and how to successfully engage with the students in both settings.
Instructional feedback that provides students with appropriate teaching points should be timely and encouraging. Engaging students remotely requires continuous monitoring and communication.
