Important attributes for students
Students do come to class because they are self motivated. I've found the best way to start out is to ask students to relate their personal work experience and also ask them what they expect to get out of the course at the end. Also each week I post to the announcement board the objectives for that week/module to help students to focus on what they should be getting out of the course.
Roberto,
That is a great way to engage students with each other. You hope that they can develop relationships among the course also.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I have found it very helpful to connect the material to real-life experiences. It helps them to think about the material in terms of their own lives and makes it more real for them.
Krystal,
You are right. When students can connect their new acquired knowledge and/skills the will use it and find value in it.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I have been teaching online for over 10 years, and I've never really understood why students come to class, and why students do not come to class. It makes no difference whether I run a class in the afternoon or early evening or even in the morning. Some students come to class and other ones do not come to class. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason, except that their schedule does not permit them to come the class or dates choose to do something else other than attend class. For me, this question has no real answer area
Donald,
I think they underestimate the time it takes to complete work in any course f2f or online. This becomes problems and compounds the issue of time management.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Hi Donald,
I can relate to this experience. It seems that 90% of the attendees are committed and consistently attend and the rest who attend from time to time don't always seem to truly be present. I've seen people attend and seem to walk away from the computer during the entire session.
I do see a slight difference when an email reminder is sent. From this side of the desk, I can relate to the experience of finding a meeting reminder to be beneficial.
Eugenia
Eugenia,
It is frustrating when students are not committed to the class then blame you for the bad grade. I think I will try creating a discussion calendar that students can put in their phones. Just a thought. . . .
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
