Identifying Principles of Learning
What Principles of Learning do you believe are most important for your online teaching?
In reviewing the seven principles of learning in forum 4 of this course, I think that all of them are important in online teaching and learning. However, the ones that are most important for the classes I teach online are:
1. Encourage contact between students and instructor. I found that the students who remain in communication with me and is not afraid to ask questions do better that students who do not and depend on their own knowledge to help them succeed in class. I try to help them to understand that they are in class to learn so they should not be shy or afraid to ask as many questions and reach out as often as they need to for help.
2. Encourage active learning. It is important that students remain engaged in learning and as an instructor, I must find ways to always engage students.
3. Communicate high expectations. I believe that students need to be challenged to apply their best effort. As their instructor, I must let the students know the expectations of the course at the beginning of the term and then hold the students responsible for meeting those expectations. Equally important are what students could expect from me. Like the student expectations, what they should expect from me must also be given at the beginning of the term and followed precisely.
I believe that when these expectations are met, there will be some positive results in the classroom and students and instructor will be more successful.
Well they're clearly all important but based on how we structure our courses (no teams of students possible), the most important for me are:
1. Encourage contact between students & instructor. It's been made VERY obvious, over the past 12 years of online teaching, that those students who talk to me regularly do better overall than those who don't. I'm not pointing to causality, but there's definitely correlation!
2. Encourage active learning. Since all of our learning materials are asynchronous, the students really need to take an interest in their learning in order to get the most out of the program.
3. Provide prompt feedback. Students are basically all alone out there so proper evaluative and commentative feedback keeps them in touch and motivated.
4. Emphasize time on task. Time management can be a learning disability, did you know that? When we found that out we wondered if half our students had it! But really, when you work and have a family, an invisible school you've never been to very easily takes a back seat. So we need to get the students to focus on pro-active scheduling in order to make us concrete and important.
5. Communicate high expectations. From experience, the more we expect from students, the better work we receive in return. Going "easy" on students is counterproductive - they in turn think it IS easy and therefore it's easy to procrastinate. But if you explain what is expected and how long it will take, AND follow-through with consequences, they'll take it more seriously and will learn to schedule in the time and get it done right.
Gayle,
Contact between students, between the student and the instructor and between the instructor and student is very important. The communication channels should be open and obvious. Students must understand how to communicate and how frequently to expect communication from you and others. Frequent communication helps students understand the importance of staying on task and completing assignments in a timely fashion. And, oh yet, the consequences are important. Nice job.
Edna,
Thanks for your input. Keeping the line of communication and contact open is essential. Keeping students engaged and helping them understand the learning outcomes is a must. As students know what is expected of them, they will rise to the occasion. If the learning objectives are not of a high level, but a lower level, they will strive for that low level. Nic job!
All of the principles are important in the learning process. However, tThe principles of learning that I think are most important are:
1. Engage learners in the learning process. I always look for things that will aid them in utilizing this in the real world. The more they are engaged the more they will put the lessons to use.
2. Cooperation, collaboration and teamwork. I think it is essential that students are involved and working together. They are going to need to do this in their careers.
3. I also think frequent feedback for me is essential. This way they can do better on the next assignment.
Joan,
Right on, engaging the students and building community through effective communication is essential. Frequent and meaningful feedback is also essential. Thanks for your input.
Although all the principles are very important to effective learning, probably the two most important principles that I find works with my students are good interaction with the instructor and prompt feedback. I find that students who attend chats, read my posts and emails, email me, and learn from my grading comments do the best in all schools. I grade within a day of due dates so that students can take the suggestions and use them in the next task, which comes up quickly in an online environment. I also expect prompt response from my students as well. Those who don't read announcements, emails, and comments and who don't attend chats often struggle over the simple things and will often ask the very questions I had answered in the many forms of communication. I guess that this is all a part of my high expectations for college students; we had rigorous expectations when we attended college, and I don't plan to drop the bar and lower my students' chances to succeed in life.
Joan, what are some of the things that you have students do to help them in the real world? I have my English students write letter to the editor as well as letters to someone who hurt or offended them, etc., for practice in argument and rhetoric. I also have them describe a scene outside the classroom--a place by the school where we go in nice weather--to hone their observational skills, something that will help in classes and in life.
Gayle, I agree that "going easy" is counterproductive. Then we are just teaching or reinforcing bad habits that the student may have cultivated for a life time. College is and should be a real eye opener for all of us. And your following through with the consequences is the same logic a good parent will follow if he/she wants productive and well-behaved children.
June,
Interaction and feedback are of utmost importance - defniitely. The feedback must be meaningful and help the students improve/learn/succeed. Define what "prompt" is for your students. For me, it's 24 hours. Many instructors do different things. Just be consistent and let the students know the rules/reguations. Thanks!
June & Joan,
Nice job. Any assignments that you can tie to the real world is excellent. Keep sharing ideas. We learn so much from each other. Thank you.
June & Gayle,
For sure. I remember when I first started teaching (a long time ago) F2F and was told not to smile until Christmas. ;-) But, holding them to the standards immediately and having consequences that you follow through with is so important. Thanks for your input.
I believe it is important to manage your time and efforts in an online setting,.
Karen,
How do you do it? Do you set parameters of contact in your syllabus?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I also believe engagement is learning – I have found that if I am able to get learners engaged early, they really build off each other and carry the class/discussion. I try to start very early in the weeks assignment with a real-world question e.g., how would you apply this week’s material to your current, or future position? Sometimes I will just show them a clipping of help wanted ads in the area we are discussing. I’ve found engagement depends on me to get the ball rolling, and then watch as hopefully is its critical mass
The principle that I see that students have the most challenges with is:
• Underestimate the amount of time necessary to complete assignments involved in an online course.
I can always tell when students panic, and are scrambling to finish an assignment. This is especially true when students are new, as I see this less in upper-level courses. As such, I try to get them to start early in the week in tackling assignments.
Another challenge I see with students is:
• Try to do too much (i.e., take too many courses or work too many hours while taking courses).
They may be taking two courses, working, and managing a household. As such, I try to get them to "chunk" their work, handling parts of it over the course of several days, rather than all at once.
Communication is key! It is important for both the instructor and learners to be engaged and committed to the online learning environment. In an online environment, it is important for the learner to lean forward, and equally important is the instructor's prompt feedback. Closing the loop in that communication transfer can equate to a successful experience.
I don't think any one of these 7 principles outweighs or is more important than the other.
Encourage contact between students and instructor
Develop reciprocity and cooperation among students
Encourage active learning
Provide prompt feedback
Emphasize time on task
Communicate high expectations
Respect diverse talents and ways of learning
They all work together to create a healthy learning environment, one is not mutually exclusive of the other. If one is removed it fractures the stability of the others and its importance to the learning.
Being successful in the online classroom entails instructors setting and creating the right environment. This means welcoming students and calling him or her by name. It is also important to create an environment where learning content, guidelines and instructions are easily visible. A FAQ list can help an instructor communicate a feeling of accessibility.
It is important for the instructor to act as a proper role model. This means that the instructor should be polite, have access to relevant knowledge, cite ethically and be a strong communicator.
It is important that instructors give prompt and thorough feedback, as well as establish a strong presence in the class. This means posting new threads as well as responding to others in both the Questions forum and DB forum.
An online instructor must actively engage students on the Discussion Board. Sometimes this may be coaxing a shy student, or minimizing the effects of a "loud" student. It is important to use Socratic questions and employ active learning.
Online instructors must employ a variety of lessons planned around different learning styles. Therefore, despite being online, different students can be reached via various methods.
Finally, it is vital that online instructors try to reach out to their students and thereby become more "human." I try to set high expectations from the beginning. I send e-mails to struggling students as well as to those who are doing well. Communication is key to a successful online instructor.
