Utilizing collaborative learning can provide students with an excellent learning opportunity where they share their perspectives and insight into a given topic. In order to create these expericences without them becoming too burdensome, I would make sure that groups are small and that evaluation procedures were designed and projected to students to avoid confusion or misunderstanding.
The online instructor should be a "guide on the side" and not dominate discussions. There is no need to respond to every post. Small groups should be encouraged to rely on each other.
Best practice begins with purposeful planning and ends with accessing the students and strateg.
Communication within an online class is just as important as in a traditional seated class. It is critical that the instructor sets up a system for students and him or herself to facilitate the necessary information in the class while establishing good communication norms that foster cooperation and respect.
I like the idea of providing weekly, private updates on each student in regards to grades. The guideline that a student shouldn't go 7 days without this information makes sense. I will use this guideline to be sure my class understands exactly where they are and what they can improve on.
I learned about establishing communication boundaries.
Ensure that you take control over the class by leading in the way that you will hold the attention of the students. Short and to the point, rely to the students when they ask questions in a timely manner.
When posting a discussion question, "seed the discussion with an opinion" or ask for a critique, as opposted to just posting a general question. I like this idea to get the kids to discuss right off the bat to try to avoid canned responses like "Me, too" or "that is interesting". I struggle with teaching high schoolers on how to peer evaluate, so that is something I will have to look into further.
Keep groups small
Group members need to interact frequently; this is best accomplished if groups have fewer than six members.
Collabration is an excellnt way of learning in the online environment because it affords the students have peer and group evalutions. This lets the students have a hand on the wheel when ti comes to the course workload and allowing interdepence to take place among each other by keeping groups small.
Support and feedback should be offered quickly. Communication is key to success in the online platform. Keep student feedback private.
Feedback is key to the online learning environment.
Feedback is key to the online learning environment.
Students need to know their status in the class and feel they have an active stake in what is being shared. Multiple feedback avenues can be used to achieve this.
Students need feedback from their online instructor at least 5 times weekly. Responses should be clear, concise, and offer constructive feeback.
One of the things I learned from this module is that it isn't good to reply to every message in an online discussions. Students need the space among themselves without the teacher contributing. Feedback is essential and expected within 7-10 days. Instructors must establish, communicate, and enforce communication boundaries. Students should know when an instructor is available. Instructors must make time within those boundaries to meet, even face to face, if necessary with students.
Stay in touch with every student individually not just in a group setting. Communication with youur students is one of the most important aspects of online instruction
I like the idea of giving consistent feedback to online assignments. It's more important in the online world because you cannot give praise or comments face to face.
I see now where group interactions are critical for online learning. I plan on incorporating more personal messages as well as more opportunities for students to interact in groups.
Instructors should be present in class at least 5 days to show students their presence and provide feedback to show the student that their effort is being recognized.
