Technology and the Unskilled
What are Best Practices for enhancing the technical skills for those students who are not familiar with technology?
Debra,
There are a couple of things that will help in enhancing technical skills. The first is start small. Have the student focus on a couple of tasks and make sure they have success in those tasks. Nothing breeds success. . . like success. i know that sounds simplistic but it does work.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Building the student's confidence by starting out small if they are not technically savvy is good practice. If a student is new and is showing signs they are struggling with grasping the concept of the online environment I may direct them to take a keyboarding course first to build their confidence. Once they are able to successfully complete this first course and get more familiar with the expectations of the online environment, then you can transition them to something slightly more difficult.
When I wentback for my MSN it was my first experience with the online classroom. The first course was 3 weeks and took you through the ABC's of how the classroom worked,disscussion questions,uploading ect. we had experience in each and by the time the 3 weeks were up I was able to navigate their online site.
Jennifer,
That is indeed great practice. Success breeds success. . . in anything. It also takes some coach on the instructor's part. Good post!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
ANNE,
Interesting. I do think a thorough orientation about technology and a refresher before each class is a good idea. Good post.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I've run into students who were unfamiliar with technology including MS Word and MS Excel. What I try and do is to post some youtube videos to help students along in addition to having the technical support phone number on the announcement board for students to easily get to. It does become a challenge for those students but my job I feel is to make the feel comfortable and help them. In the end, it is almost like a 180 degree turnaround by the time they complete the course on what they are expected to do.
The starting point I feel is that the instructor needs to show confidence on the use of technology. If the instructor complains, so do students. I'm not saying the instructor needs to be an expert, but at least know where to go and how to get issues resolved as soon as possible.
During the first live chat sessions I tend to share my screen and take the students for a tour of the virtual campus. They seem to become more comfortable with it and do much better.
Roberto,
Good point. You almost hope you are NOT the first online course. You are doing the right things. I have started using Youtube clips also rather than create my own videos particularly regarding citations, software usage. It is such a time saver!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Roberto,
You make such an important point! As an instructor you can't join their complaining chorus and expect them to work within the environment. You have to remain positive even if you are cursing the software yourself! As former IT person, if you have problems please report it!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Tammy,
That is a great technique for making students feel comfortable. Screen share is a great tool for many actions online.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I think that providing the student with video and how to guides will help them navigate where they need to go in the course.
Kimberley,
I love using them. I have used Youtube clips extensively particularly when teaching APA.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I think that one way to increase a student's familiarity with technology is to be sure the technology that you intend to use is accessible to your students. While computers are virtually ubiquitous, and students living on campus have ready access to computing labs and other technology on campus, do consider whether or not your students have access to technology that you want them to use. Also, consider your own access to technology: make sure that you are familiar with all of the technology that you use and that the technology does what you intend for it to do. For example, if you are not familiar with the educational aspects of Facebook, there is no need to create a Facebook page for your class. How will your students understand the purposes of the page if you do not?
Willie ,
Great points. We have the responsibility to know the technology if we demand it of our students. Instructors should model the use of technology also.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
There should be a variety of methods, but one idea would be to create training guides that students can refer to for any basic technical assistance.
Our department has also started implementing Screencast-O-Matic where we create comprehensive how-to videos which we can then add audio and captioning. This gives our audio and visual learners a new model to refer to.
Also, it's a good plan to have a technical support team or coaches who reach out to at-risk students who require technical assistance. At least his way, they are able to connect with a live person.
Chezree,
I agree with you!!! I use this all the time. If you develop these tutorials you can use them over and over again. It is also a great way to address a problem issue quickly. this is a great workload strategy for the instructor. I have students to record "stuff" too!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I tend to use the same type technique although mine has always been in a lab environment with hands on, after we have gone over the procedure a couple of time I do like the mother eagle and kick them out of the nest (so to speak), it is now time to attempt to fly or take a strong hard plunge to the ground. But just like that mother Eagle I am there to catch them and bring them safely back to the nest if the don't make it, at witch point we go over the procedure again with me pulling back a little more each time until it is time to kick them out of the nest again.
Harlan,
Thank you for sharing your strategies, mother eagle! For many of our students, they are so afraid to make a mistake they don't even try. I like your way of thinking.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
