Tina,
I agree wholeheartedly with you. Principles of learning do not deviate like delivery of learning does. They hold true.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Emily ,
I agree. Presence is defined in many ways now with the different technology.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Tina,
You make such a great point. When students feel comfortable with an instructor, they will begin to talk freely about other issues. That doesn't change just because you teach online.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Certainly, all seven principles are important for successful online teaching, but if I had to choose three, they would be:
1. Encourage active learning - I believe this also includes interaction with other students and the instructor through active discussion, asking questions,and sharing knowledge. I believe students must actively engage in the writing and research process in my courses rather than be passive learners who expect to be spoon fed knowledge but not actively seek it or apply it.
2. Provide prompt feedback - This is absolutely essential, especially in a writing class where students are working on drafts to progress to a final product. Students need to know their strengths and weaknesses (or challenges), so that they can build on strengths and work to improve in other areas.
3.Emphasize time on task - Students need to know that writing is a process, and approaching a writing assignment with only 48 (or worse, 24 hours to go) is not going to produce their best work.
Le,
I agree that encouragement is a motivator for students. When students email me with vague statements such as "I do not understand the assignment," I reply with an encouraging note which also includes questions such as "What step on the assignment are your working on (choosing a topic, thesis development, research, etc). Often, they are not breaking the assignment down into manageable steps and fear sets or a feeling of helplessness. Asking them to back up, take a deep breath, and assess the first increment of steps is essential. I also point out class resources which will provide more direction and increment steps to help them not become so overwhelmed.
Cynthia
Cynthia,
I agree with you. In the online environment, communication and feedback are imperative. Yes, feedback in a writing class can be the difference between success and failure in learning for the student.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Cynthia,
This is a great suggestion. I actually have a discussion area that students have to post their question before they come to me. They will ask before they look because it usually works for them.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Great idea! I do have a DB for questions set up, but students have not use it. I imagine I need to encourage them to do so more often.
Cynthia
I typically teach courses with at-risk students, so I place extensive value on communication between student and instructor. It is clear to me that my presence and efforts to develop personalized relationships with my students helps to improve their success. Not only do they feel more than just a name on a screen, through my communications, group and individualized, I am able to identify where students are struggling and address the struggle before it becomes overwhelming. I can also motivate through positive reinforcement to those who are already on the path to success. Sometimes these students do not receive as much instructor interaction as the struggling student. However, I believe these students find instructor interaction to be highly motivational. ~Melissa
Cynthia,
Use it!!! It will help.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Melissa,
With your statement you show that you CAN develop relationships online. People to it all of the time yet I am surprised when people say that online education is individualistic and cold. I find that is up to the tone set by the instructor. Our traditional students have relationships with students all of the time and find them fulfilling.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The most important principles of learning for your online teaching represent encouraging interaction between the students and faculty; encourage the student to participate in the discussion board posting, giving prompt feedback to the students, responding promptly to emails or voicemail messages, helping student with time management by creating a checklist for managing the class work.
Anita,
You are right. We talk about faculty to student but engagement among the students is so important. You want them to talk to each other. This provides such a rich online environment.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I thought this was a great question because it really made me think about what my priorities are, what my responsibilities are, and how those relate to my specific course/platform.
If I were to pick a top three they would include: encouraging active learning, providing prompt feedback, and encouraging contact between student and instructor.
Encouraging active learning aligns itself with my personal belief that humans always want to know "what's in it for me?" and if they can't make the connections between the course content and their daily lives--they generally aren't as successful. This is why Gen Ed instructors most often have the toughest time motivating their students. When we can help make those connections--the students not only learn, but they might even come to appreciate or love the discipline.
At first glance, prompt feedback may not appear to be a critical element. However, most online students want to get in, get their work done, and move on. So we as instructors have a very small window of time to catch their attention and communicate what went well and what needs to be done to improve. Also, if an instructor and student are working collaboratively (through the feedback loop) the student should be able to look at their first week's assignments and the last week's assignments and easily see their progress and growth. This shows them, tangibly, that learning has taken place.
Contact between student and instructor is my final choice for my "top three". What I have learned over my five years of teaching online is that communication must be expected and open--but success can be achieved despite tremendous variance. I've had students who want constant/daily contact, some who do not want to hear from me at all--and everything in between. And while, typically, communicative students do well--it's not always the case. While other times some of my most uncommunicative students are leaving with near perfect scores. So, my takeaway has been to provide the level of communication that my institution expects--but not to equate communication with performance and to learn as quickly as I can what each student needs/expects.
From the Principles of Learning, I think the most important Principles are:
1. Provide prompt feedback: The sooner a student understands what is expected and if what they are doing is correct or not assists with them understanding that their work is of value.
2. Respect diverse talents and ways of learning: Knowing that students learn differently means that the material is absorbed differently too and illustrates that you may need to have different instruction methodologies to ensure that you reach all of your students.
3. Emphasize time on task: Since time management appears to have the most significant impact on the work being submitted by students, teaching them how to manage their time wisely and how to account for the time and even probable time on an assignment helps them to plan better and possible submit their assignment sooner to receive feedback :).
Mike
Tamara ,
You have added so much to the discussion in this forum. Thank you so much. It is so important that we share these thoughts as we evolve as instructors whether it is online or f2f. You really do get to know your students by understanding quickly their environment. Most of our students don't linger here so you may want to use other ways of "touching" them. I see online learning are short burst of touches, where in f2f it seems to be a more sustained touch. Now before anyone comments on the term touching, it is making a connection with the student in the online environment.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Michael,
Emphasize time on task is so important. It is one of those soft skills they need to learn through online courses. You also need to have information in multiple places. This is a great post.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
For the student's perspective, the seven principles for learning are an excellent guideline. If I had to pick the three most important, I would list them in this order:
Be active
Be responsible
Understand the expectations
Interaction, as a F2F instructor this is key...and would be as well online. Isolation happens in every classroom.
Amy,
They are great! Expectations are so important; for the student and the instructor.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
