June,
Pretty much all online students need to know these skills. It's amazing sometimes what we take for granted that our students know and they don't. Having a place like "Frequently Asked Questions" for them to access when they need to know how to do something is helpful. This many times helps them not be overwhelmed if they know they have someplace to check for help. Thanks for your input.
Students in an online course must have a basic understanding of their computer and its software. I am often surprised when students who are well along in their online program still seem unsure about some of the basics such as how to load a file or conduct a search on the internet. I believe the students need to have a grasp of basic functions in Word (spell check, formatting, saving their file,etc). They should also have an understanding of uploading a file into the virtual campus and accessing a zip file as those are sometimes used.
The virtual campus still seems a mystery for some students and I can understand why this might be an issue in those first classes. Having an orientation to the LMS including the library is important. Additionally, a lab or a document they can refer to as a refresher is also a good idea.
I believe an online university can start the students off on the right foot by evaluating their readiness for the environment, and offering them resources to sharpen their technical skills before they take that first online class.
Jennifer ,
Yes, you are correct. It is amazing that their technology expertise is very specialized. That is a great idea to have an orientation to the LMS.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dear Dr. Crews and Dr. Wilkinson,
A student must first become comfortable with the Virtual Campus. They must understand where and how their assignments are submitted, how to access and post on the discussion boards, how to log on to a virtual chat, and where to find the syllabus, course files, interactive media, and tutoring services. If a student does not feel comfortable just navigating around the Virtual Campus, then these problems will become an even bigger stumbling block when it is time to submit their first assignment.
Last term I was teaching a class where all of the students had taken a leave of absence from school for at least one year. Therefore, they had already taken their first courses that introduce them to how to use the required technology for the university, but they had taken these courses a long time ago, and since then many things had changed. For the entire course, I found myself addressing technology issues more than focusing on the course content when communicating with my students. I took them on tours of the Virtual Campus during the virtual chats, called them on the phone and walked them through submitting assignments and posting discussion board postings, and pushed them to call Technical Support constantly. Our campus has an originality verification tool that requires students to submit projects in Microsoft Word. My students would constantly submit projects in other formats, and having to ask my students to submit their assignments again in the required format seemed to frustrate them.
I think that a technology refresher course should be required for those students who have been away from the online learning environment for so long. Until then, I will definitely offer a tutorial during the first week of class on how to use the Virtual Campus if this situation happens again. I will also survey my students during the first week to determine if any of my students feel uncomfortable with the Virtual Campus and the technological requirements of the course so that I can address the students’ concerns early. I definitely don’t want to wait until the assignments start being submitted incorrectly again!
Yours Sincerely,
Sarah Pingrey
A technical skill I believe is important for my online students is their ability to review the comments sent to them and to make changes to their writing skills, when necessary.
Sarah,
What a great post! It is very frustrating with students not following directions. It makes you wonder if it is really a technology issue or just not "listening".
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Students should have the ability to email, upload, download, convert to pdf and other basic functional skills. This will allow them to contribute and participate appropriately and support their use of other more advanced technical options.
There should also be a resource for the student to go and learn additional skills. This may include things such as internet searches or using PowerPoint, so that they fully versed as well as competent in their knowledge of what tools may be useful to them in their academic (as well as non-academic) lives.
Karen,
That is a good idea! So, students see their posts and can edit and/or delete their communication?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Beth,
That is a good point. There are essential skills students need to be able to do as well as instructors!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Beth, I agree with your list of basic technology skills for a student in the online environment. I occasionally have students enrolled in my classes who have a very limited knowledge of how to navigate the online environment. I believe having a pretest for online readiness and a class for students who have a gap in their technical skills would be helpful at my university. All to often this gap of skills can cause a student to get frustrated and drop out of the class. How does your institution handle student who lack proficient technical skills?
Heather,
I agree with you. Our institution does NOTHING about lacking proficient technical skills. I make the expectation myself and hold them to it.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I believe there are severals technical skills necessary for online students. The first being able to navigate through the online class. Next, I would suggest that self-discipline is the most important. Finally, the ability to use maximize one's critical thinking skills. Together, these technical skills will help online learners to be successful.
When a student is new to the online environment many come in with basic computer skills and social media skills but are not literate in LMS, therefore since each school is different it is important that the student be technically savvy in his or her school's LMS. It makes for a smoother and more pleasant experience for the student and reduces the amount of stress the student experiences while learning about being an online student. Taking the tutorial and spending a good 2 hours becoming familiar with practice lessons is a good way to become familiar with submitting documents, posting among the various skills one must perform as an online student.
Students need to have a wide array of basic skills when taking classes online. I find that a number of students will skip the training as they think that online learning platforms are intuitive. Some students believe that Faceboook and other social media make them computer literate, but that is not the case.
I have taught on Bb, E-college, Web-tycho and a number of other platforms. Many of them have common features, but still training is needed to understand how to submit assignments, navigate the DB's, access feedback, access reading material, etc.
Students also need to have a basic understanding of Word. Students need to know how to save files, change headers, add page numbers, create hanging indents, create margins, attach documents, copy/paste and other formatting features. Using spell-check and downloading Adobe is vital as well.
Students should also take a library orientation and also understand the basics of the school's website.
Finally, if students are confused they should know where to seek help.
Although it may seem almost intuitive, simple skills such as copying, pasting, uploading files, and downloading files aren't consistently present. There are many students will alert instructors immediately that they aren't aware of how to do this. It's useful if instructors are able to provide guidance in these areas.
Further, many students may not realize the importance of research in their assignments. If instructors can't provide direction in this area, they should, at least, provide resources that will be of assistance.
For my history class all the skills that go along with writing. This includes basic things such as spell check, writing, saving, and uploading a file in Word. They also need to know how to access the chat,view, send, and reply to emails. Much of these just need practice to learn and I often see my students improve as they move along in the unit.
One of the most important technical skills that I think are important for students are:
1. Having computer access - you msut have a computer in order to complete the assignments
2. Access to Microsoft Word/Office - Students will need this to complete papers and can also be used to help students with spell check
3. Internet Access with a decent speed - This can be frustating for students; therefore, I encourage them to use an internet software system that has internet modem verus dial up
4. Committment to embrace the online learning environment - If students are committed to learning online, it requires a committment to sometimes learning new things in order to be upset.
I think the 3 most important skills are:
- How to post to a discussion post and reply to classmates' postings
- How to upload assignments and submit them as well
- The ability to use communication tools such as email and chat
Do you think many students today go into an online class already knowing how to do all of the above automatically?
- Dr. Eileen Wibbeke
Eileen,
I think we assume that but it is not so. Their technology skills are very spotty. (That is just my opinion)
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Adib,
I agree with you totally. I have concerns when institutions let students enroll in online courses when they don't have the connection or the computer. That is worse than not having a book!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
