Encourage students to participate and build on their knowledge through scaffolding.
A well constructed course syllabus is key to a successful online class. You should facilitate proper discussion forums throughout the course to allow for student involvement and interaction. These communication devices vary depending on the current course content and the specific genre of the student and or instructor inquiery.
Scaffolding just like in construction applications allows Learners to hang out far above their normal learning activities for an exrended period of time!
Blogs and other web-based systems can increase student communication.
Once again communication is important, from the syslibus to interaction whether between the instructor, student, to an instructor, to a student, peer to peer, or group clear instruction and active listening are keys. There are many platforms to use and i have explored some and will look for more to try and test.
Teaching Online: A Student-Centered Approach --> Instructional Delivery
The success of any online course, would lie upon creating an clear interactive syllabus. The instructor should have effective communication with his or her students to ensure learning.
Scaffolding of students learning is supported by a dynamic syllubus that changes with teh needs to the class and can be used to find the overview and directiosn for class participation, evaluation, communication and prblem solving. The diesgn of tehclass should encourage students to share their knowledge to help build the learning community's foundation or scaffold. The instructor must monitor this so that the correct information is shared with all learners.
It is vital to have a clearly outlined syllabus (that can be adjusted to go with the needs of the group) and have effective communication with and between the different members of the group so all are aware of expectations and their roles in participation.
The utilization of different online tools for collaboration can help allow students to feel more involved in the course and encourage them to learn "with" the technology instead of "from" it.
Be sure to scaffold the lessons so both teacher and students can see a clear path for learning outlined and see the connections between the content. This scaffolding allows students to have a more welcoming experience as they work through the content sharing their experience with you and with others.
A dynamic syllabus. A syllabus that allows the students to navigate and find the information they need. Almost like a living being guiding them along the learning path.
Building a strong base is important when engaging in online istruction. Building on prior knowledge or scaffolding is an important piece. Communication and how that is going to be handled is also importnant.
Some of my Instructional Delivery module notes:
Creating a Dynamic Syllabus - The syllabus is the legend for the road map to identify course information, assignments, and assessment.
Creating an Online Learning Community - An online community may be referred to as an e-community or a virtual community. It is basically a group of individuals, in this case course participants, who interact through online resources.
Using Effective Communication - An online course has several communication channels. These channels are: instructor to student (I2S), student to instructor (S2I), student to student (S2S), instructor to group (I2G), group to instructor (G2I), and group to group (G2G).
Scaffolding Student Learning - In teaching in an online environment, the instructor must find strategies to ensure students are learning and applying what they learned in targeted activities. Scaffolding is the process of building knowledge/skills and a knowledge/skills structure based on prior knowledge/skills and experiences
Scaffolding is huge. You need to encourage participation in a variety of ways, including polling students to see how much they want to feel your presence in chatrooms or blogs. Use online tools when you can to enable a variety of ways to communicate. CLose your rooms and ensure privacy for students who may need that to fully engage.
Providing clear instructions and scaffolding are crucial to student success.
In this module, I learned about what a dynamic syllabus is and how to create one.
I intend to start creating dynamic syllabus now on when I create a syllabus for my course.
I've learned how a dynamic syllabus can help build a beter online learning community. I will def be putting this type of syllabus into place for the remainder of my distance learning.
I learned the importance of a dynamic syllabus as well as how to effectively scaffold the learning in an online course.
I learned communication is key to the success of an online course. It begins with the syllabus, which should be an ever evolving document that provide specific directions and answers to student questions. I also learned that it's important to create a community of learners who are participative and to use online resources to assist in this communications. Then learned the importance of structuring your course to scaffold student learning and focus for student activities.
This was a rich module. I currently use a LMS and this module has me thinking about what I need to possibly change and how I will move forward in the course.
I learned that a dynamic syllabus is recommended for online instruction, but I don't know how to create one. I would love to see an example. I will search through a few posts and see if I find one. If you read this post and have one to send as an example, please do so.
I have learned that it is important to use a dynamic syllabus and scaffolding in online learning. I will try to be very sensitive to students feedback and encourage effective communication wihin the online learning community.
