Communication is key. Providing counseling and feedback. Instructors must know how to address undesirable behavior. Personality traits that you see in the classroom, you will see online.
I learned that there can be disruptive behaviors in an online class.
Even though we may face challenges with e-learners open, direct and sometimes private communications wil help solve most of the issues. Also, always leave a paper trail of your conversations to ensure you are following all policies.
I don't ever want to teach a class where a student feels that they cannot participate. I do like the discussions and use of email but it would be difficult for me if tension was created between the students during chats.
Good communications, boundaries and established set of rules are needed for e learning.
Email is the best form of communication and it is important to keep the recordes of all communication.
As the instructor, it is your responsibility to minimize and deal with behaviors that negatively impact the learning environment. Our goal should be to provide the necessary support that will enable all students to be successful and receive the learning they seek.
I have learned that it is essential to keep good records of students be they good students or not so good students. I have learned the difference in the different types of students and what to look for and to know how to take care of the issues as they arise. It is my job to stay on top of every situation and make sure that time is used wisely and all students get out of the course what they are suppose to get out of the course.
The instructor is responsible for managing the course. This includes student engagement, conflict resolution, and providing appropriate support for each student.
I learned that the same things that occur in the traditional brick and mortar school will pop up in the online environment as well. Therefore, owning the class and having a strong presence in the class is essential. It is also essential to document interactions and to save these things in a safe and organized online storage system.
When faciliating distant learning, unexpected challenges can arise from improper student participation to ineffective communication methods. Being equipped with the new management strategies suggested in this course, I feel I will be ready to effectively handle challenges that may arise in distant learning environments.
Hi everyone,
In this section, we learned about dealing with special student issues like student/student conflicts, life crises, prior commitments, and alienation. All of these things affect the student's level of engagement and can cause them to leave the program prematurely. Some of the tips the module suggested we use to deal with these situations include reminding students of the commitment through regular communication, assisting them with time management skills, pulling alienated learners in and setting them up with partners in class, and resolving/documenting conflicts quickly to ensure they don't escalate.
I plan to apply these techniques in my own classroom with the goal of retaining as many students as possible and ensuring students are receiving the best learning experience possible.
-Danielle
It is absolutily critical to set up an efficient email and file mangement system for correspondence and assignments. We do have a CMS systme but our students are graded more for on hands on activities so transitioning to online participation will require a far greater degree of file managment from the CMS. I learned about certain disruptive behaviors in the online community and solutions to help with those situations.
Discussion Board
I learned several key things about managing an online course and students. During my online studies, the top two (1) Keeping course records and (2) Communicating with students were never an issue in my courses. As for the last four, I never gave them much thought when I was in school. However, my daughter is an assistant to a couple professors across the USA and she grades discussion boards and handle other tasks for professors. She deals with all the last four issues with adult graduate learners. I am so glad that I did not have to deal with co-students in my online courses that stressed and aggravated my professors. As for me, I will handle my students using the institution’s guidelines, keep records, and be there for students who struggle.
Evonne
I learned that it is just as necessary or maybe more important to be organized and detailed in record keeping. I was also surprised to see that behaviors demonstrated in the classroom are similiar in the online environment. It's reassuring that the institutions guidelines and practices should be thes same with e-learning as in the class room.
I learned that having a sytem to monitor responses and assignments is needed. The assignments may be in your CMS system and I am wondering if this is adequate? I really liked the FAQ section for students to access before addressing the instructor.
Very interesting read. We're all familiar with the archetype personalities that disrupt in classroom learning. It was interesting to read that there are also common groups that most online learning disruptive personality types/behaviors fall into.
Managing a MLS is very important and key to it being effective. Students must feel that they are not alone, they can get asnswers to their questions qucikly, and they need to know that their ideas and their thoughts are important and procted.
Feedback is an area I continue to grow in and experience the biggest problem. I am trying to balance positive and negative feedback so that students are able to succeed. The problem arises that the feedback is sterile and can be taken wrong with little or no followup.
I also need to give more positive feedback as opposed to corrective feedback in the class. This is a growing stage for me and the insight from this module was very insightful.
I learned that procrastination is often seen with online courses. It is important for instructors to engage as much as possible with students to help keep them on track by setting deadlines and expectations.
