June & Jim,
You two are right on! I tell my students that this is a professional class and professional communication applys at all time. Keep up the good work.
I help studnet improve their reading, writing and communication skills by directing them to the appropriate writing center. While doing so I also offer some suggestive times that may help them.
Without question, engagement is the key. Therefore, I try to encourage them to think of communicating actively - or "Ing-ing". This includes: sharing, questioning, participating, debating, etc. Because the online environment can be flat, it is imperative that we do our best to create a dynamic environment and facilitates the student to become active in the online classroom.
The next area is to make them aware of the importance of tone when communicating. With so many different types of students and cultures within a single class, we need to make students mindful of the various interpretations that can be made from statements that are not clearly and professionally presented.
Hi Dr. Crews
At my online university, we have Learning Labs at AIU Online. I help my online students get help from the faculty members that run the writing/grammar labs, etc. I also give my online students websites to help them. I love the OWL (Online Writing Lab) from Purdue University
Thanks
Alana
Karen,
I am so glad you stated this! Making students aware of the resources available to them can be challenge when the instructor doesn't know about them!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Beth,
I LOVE your ing-ing! you make a great point about engagement. You sound like you really work on communication being robust in many different ways.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Alana,
You are right about the resources. There are many. I too love OWL. The challenge is making sure that online educators know about those resources.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I teach math and writing about math online is definitely a struggle. The first assignment in my classroom (after introductions) teaches my students how to write equations online. This skill helps prepare my students for the rest of the class.
The second skill we work on is how to ask good questions. In math the phrase I hear a lot is 'I don't get it.' While I understand that the student is frustrated, it is very difficult to help when I don't know what it is they don't understand. So, I teach (and reteach sometimes) how to ask better questions that will get them the help they need. If nothing else I ask my students to give me an example in the book they need help with or a problem in the homework. Really I just need some clue as to what they need help with.
So, one step at a time I work towards helping my student communicate more effectively by teaching them how to write out math symbols and by teaching them to ask better questions. This helps my classes run more smoothly and helps my students learn more because they are communicating effectively.
I do love the trend towards intro to college classes that teach students how to be better writers, effective communicators and just better students overall. I hope this is a trend that continues.
I love that approach. I find that in the discussion boards my greatest role can be in challenging my students further by asking follow up questions that make them think a little bit more. Great idea!
I find it one of the most challenging to improve my learner’s communication skills. I’ve found over the years that I can definitely impact their writing and reading skills – but the only way was to really show them examples, but small examples. I would post a large paragraph, ask them a question on that paragraph, and then in a few days show them the answer. I would then increase the size, to a page, two pages, and even ten pages. What began to happen was that they did begin to read, but they were looking for a specific idea, concept, topic, etc. I think it was this search that forced them to concentrate. With the writing, I show them weekly APA and writing tips, again small, maybe two or three tips, then in week two, five, in week seven, ten tips. By the end of the course, their writing did improve – however I must state that learners much want to improve and really attempt this, there are just some that will not. As far as communications skills, it’s a difficult task, it’s one thing to read a paper, another thing to be able to write, and still I think the hardest is to communicate ones thought in their writing. I have to locate some good resources for this one. As reading and writing are mechanical, but I think communications takes more of an art.
Liz,
WOW! You certainly have some challenges. I love the techniques you have developed regarding teaching Math. I hope you share with others.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Liz,
I agree that it is improving but we are really coming from communication deficit.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Liz,
You are correct, it is important to continue to challenge students to think and articulate those thoughts.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Steven,
Have you thought about making them create a professional writing journal. I use it in my writing course. When I hand back a paper, they have to review my feedback and articulate in their journal how they are going to improve their writing based on my comments. I then use their feedback to grade the next paper.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Students often do not know that they should not be copying and pasting materials from their references into their assignments. You have to help them to put their writing into their own words or to paraphrase material they are referencing. Even student who do reference, often believe that they should reference larger passages then they should. This can be an embarrassing process for students. Learning to write for college is different then what they may have expirienced previously. So as an instructor I try to let students know that I understand that they are learning a new way of communicating, but that they must learn it, to continue on successfully in a college environment.
No, never crossed my mind - I think this is a great tip and will try it in my next class.
In order to be an effective communicator, it is paramount that one understands all points of the communication process, and be comfortable using the many different channels of communication. Improving reading, writing and communication skills requires that one understands the objective and the audience. Seeking feedback on how well the message is received also offers an indication of where one may need to improve. I often encourage my students to seek help in the library labs and APA. Additionally, I provide specific feedback on papers.
I have been teaching online courses for over 10 years and when I first started it was very cut and dry, right and wrong.
10 years later and many trainings and books that I have read later, I have learned quite a bit about communicating via distance education. That and I earned my degree online.
Although I have never actually thought about me helping with improving the student's reading skills, I guess that when I grade, I give specific feedback in the form of the following; "to earn full credit you needed to follow the following instructions" and I will list exactly what was missed in the instruction part.
In the communication skill, I will give the student the opportunity to rewrite the paragraph or the paper in question. I will use the bubble comments and indicate how the error occurred without actually making the correction and include a resource where to find the answer. I will also include an example demonstrating how a correction would look.
Many times regardless of the error, in an online environment the learner is not sure of what kind of learner he or she is, so as the instructor, I must provide the instruction in multiple ways. Sometimes it is visual (examples) other times it would be auditory as if I read it to them (written out in a sentence) or even over the phone.
Reminding the student that the instructor is still accessible regardless of the instruction format often leads to improved communication on behalf of the student, which opens the door for improved reading and writing skills.
Kristen
Hi Everyone,
I encourage students to improve their communication skills by doing the following:
1. Introducing them to many resources (OWL, Grammar Girl, etc)
2. Encouraging them to peer review
3. Encouraging them to find sub-headings in their readings and turn them into questions to guide their reading.
4. Encouraging them to create questions to focus themselves on determining the essential points in the reading.
6. Asking them to work on unfamiliar vocabulary-- figure out words from the context clues, or surrounding information, and roots, suffixes, and prefixes of words
7. Encouraging them to summarize material
8. Encouraging them to ask the instructor about confusing points
9. Encouraging them to create outlines when writing essays
10. Encouraging them to learn to proofread and use a formal tone
