I've learnt that effective communication is key to resolving conflicts, managing attrition, counselling students and managing the learning environment.
Personally I find the best way to manage the system is to provide clear strucutre.
For every facet of the LMS( or CMS depending on word choice) I include a set of clear guidelines and rules.
I also let each student know that if they follow these rules they will succeed, otherwise I have a clear policy in place that will be folowed.
My students I taught last year and am surprised how I was able to fit every one of them into the different categories.
I will be incorporating the recommendations for managing inquires from students. Like in a traditional classroom environment, more outspoken students may ask a question that other students wish to know the answer as well. By utilizing discussion boards or a FAQs area, students are able to help themselves and see if their question has been answered previously.
- reminder emails to students of the level of commitment necessary to complete your course. Provide them with guidelines for setting priorities.
I have gotten ideas for handling issues online with students that can help me.
The instructor must be alert to a lack of participation in online discussions by students and attempt to diagnose the cause in order to provide effective guidance.
There is the potential for conflict/angst in online learning as well as in person. Understanding your institutions policies regarding these types of conflicts will help you move forward.
I have learned that I will have to deal with students who have different personalities and sometimes conflicting personalities. I will have to be able to identify those particular personality traints and deal with them accordingly. I will also need to keep records of my interactions with students, and keep copies of school guidelines on hand in case I need to use them or share them with students.
Keeping the students participating in the online environment can be a challenge. As an instructor I would have to be aware of individual needs. Communication is very important.
What I found to be the most difficult hurdle of all is the student's lack of discipline. They admit this. You have students who are able to handle the differences in the online environment, but for those that struggle with logging in and learning, it takes relating it to something they are familiar with. Not just the idea of needing this for a job, but I ask them if they play video games and if they ever set up meeting times to get online with friends. I say that this isn't really much different. It is the same as being in class, but now you're saving gas!!
The need for developing organized and easy to retrieve recordkeeping is essential. This task cand be great, but it would seem over time the instructor could find systems that would help in many task of the online instructor.
It's important not to engage in procrastination ourselves and to make time for individual interaction with each student as needed.
The student wanting to challenge my teaching due to their knowledge is very tough to overcome, but with the rules by our organizaton and being Able to counsel helps out. Counseling over a chat is new to me and may try this on a minor situation.
I've learned that there are different methods for counseling students. I will be exploring the chat feature.
How to deal with different types of online students
The same problems exist for online as in class, the only thing that changes is the distance.
Communication with students is incredably important. Understanding student behavior and addressing issues immediatly.
Some students like to push the buttons to see how far they can go
I learned how to reduced student attrition and how to handle conflict in online learning.
