It is important to engage students with online learning. I intend to use various methods such as breaks inbetween online lecturing with a refresher or recap about questions.
It is important to utilize methods that will enhance student engagement in all aspects of the course. In online teaching, instructors should facilitate learning, which is often realized through modelling of correct behavior and expectations, and providing timely, personal, and informative instructions and feedback. In addition, instructors should take student feedback into consideration, along with student outcomes, and course content to determine what can be done to improve instruction.
I find that my students value feedback from the instructors. They want to know what is important to know and how to apply what they know to real life situations.
Reflection on your course and facilitation plan after each session or maybe even after each module is helpful. Aspects to reflect on include: course structure, meeting learning needs, students' comfort with technology, the feedback provided, and your own leadership in the course.
It is important for an instructor to determine which method of fecilitation suits his style of teaching and the course the best and use it. As a fecilitator, instructor performs many tasks but the task of providing students with a meaningful, informative crttique is one of the most important ones. Since body language is not a part of online environment, instructor's message to students should be written in very clear terms. At the end of the course, the instructor must assess whether or not the fecilitation helped achieve the intended learning out comes for the students and make changes in the fecilitation process if needed.
I have learned it is very improtant to the learning process to provide timely constructive feedback. I have also learned how to assess if students are having difficulty with an assignment and may need additional clarification.
Cheryl
Student engagement is essential to the sucess of the student in acheuivibng learning outcomes. Instructors/facilitators need to be creative in engaging students.
Cheryl
In this module we learned that there is much more to teaching than just teaching. We need to engage with our students on many different levels to ensure they are getting the most out of the class, also so they know that we care that they succeed. We play many rolls such as administrator, technology helper, and a social administrator.
Shouldn't we have been using a facilitation of learning, facilitation of students all along, even before going online with teaching/learning?
Feedback is an important part of a good communication.
Keeping students engaged, while setting specific expectations and ensuring a safe enviornment can be a delicate balance. Positive communication, providing specific direction and honest feedback is essential.
I learned to pay close attention to ensure the intended messages sent via email aren't misinterpreted.
It can be a challenge when sending out text messages to students in an online format. Body language and other nonverbal cues are not present so you must be sure to convey your message in a positive but clear way.
Feedback is vital to the success of an online course, without it the learner is living in a vacuum with no real direction or vision of how they are progressing through the course.
Even after the course is completed and imlemented, is remains highly important to keep reviewing it for content from a holistic lense. It is the only way to ensure we are facilitating the students' learning environment as well as the teaching environment.
Organizing the material is necessary so that there is structure, direction and clear expectations. And within the organized material there needs to be an appreciation for the dynamic learning environmet to connect with the learners and allow for personal relevations.
As an online instructor, there are a lot of important things we need to do- communicate with the students, foster a student-centered environment, provide meaningful feedback, and helping students critically think.
To be a good facilitator you must have a sound strategy to encourage communication between students , timely response to online issues, evaluation of course material and " wear many shoes"
The importance of timely feedback
I will offer better communication for better understanding and learning.
I love discussion boards -- class discussions are my favorite part of teaching. This unit had some helpful tips for facilitating community and conversation; but, I think one of the most valuable aspects of the unit was the idea that courses are constantly being evaluated and improved upon. I think that's key to an effective course and every time I teach a course, what happens in the discussions and other assignments reveal the strengths and weaknesses of that assignment. I can use this new knowledge to build upon the information I give to students to help them succeed. I can use this information to see what information discussions typically leave out that I feel is important, so that I can steer the discussion in that area. I think it is important for instructors to constantly view each session of a class as a learning experience for them as well as for their students.
Nancy Tosh
