The section on communication styles of various age groups was very interesting. Most likely, any online course I teach will have all generations represented.
Effective communication can be difficult for some learners and instructors in the online environment.
This module provided me an understanding of the challanges that may arise with different generations of students.
We need to understand that different age groups learn differently. We need to set guidelines for communication and hold every student to them and encourage participation from all students.
When interacting with students in an online course it is important for instructors to keep in mind that they are not dealing with a homogeneous group and that they will likely have students born in multiple Generations in their courses. This is important to keep in mind because each Generation has different traits and preferences, and will require the Instructor to interact with them in a unique manner.
As a general rule of thumb, you want to make sure that you diffuse any conflicts that occur online quickly. Understand that different age groups will interpret different communications differently and to remember to use Netiquette at all times.
This module emphasized the need to provide differentiated instruction to address the needs of students that may come from various generations and have differing skills in regards to technology and communication. Applying the Golden Rule to class communication can alleviate many of the issues that may arise in online communication. I think it is important to emphasize to students in the beginning of the course the qualities of a successfull online student, so they have a clear understanding of the expectations and demands to be successful in an online course.
I learned the gross generalizations about how different generations differ; I do agree with the genral point that any group of student will have heterogenous communication patterns and technology skills, but I do not think it is helpful to make generalized assumptions based on age groups.
One of the most important ways to motivate a student to participate in a class and prevent them from getting bored is by providing prompt and frequent feedback. This will aid in their motivation while they develop and refine technical and time management skills.
From this Module I learned the importance of knowing the various generations of my students. This will assist me in knowing where they're coming from and how to differentiate the curriculum.
I think knowing a bit about the different generational groups is very helpful in communication with students. In my experience, I have seen differences between the groups. The older students often do need a little more support to ensure they know how to use the course tools. All students have equal ability, some just need a bit more help at the start.
Seth Soronnadi.
Learned that; "Understanding communication differences among generations will help the instructor provide differentiated instruction. It will also help instructors alter their communication and/or design activities to more appropriately reach each student and help them achieve the learning outcomes/objectives. It will also help build a viable online learning community."
The online environment for learning does requiremore work than a traditional class room setting. I've found that it forces the student to participate by requiring 8 significiat post per week on tope of the homework assigned for the week. Wehreas, if in a classs room setting a student may not participate verbally at all and just sit through class.
The course stated students need the following:
- open mindedness
- communication (written and verbal)
- self-motivation
- self-discipline
- time management
- computer competency
- critical thinking
- teamwork
Of all of these skills, I've most often seen good students fail when they lack self-motivation, self-discipline, and time management. It's very frustrating to me as an instructor when a student habitually turns in A work late. This is especially frustrating in discussions because their work is of high quality and would have enhanced the discussion for the entire class if it had been posted on time. That's an aspect of teamwork that you don't think about initially -- discussions are, in a sense, a team activity and when you fall short there, you hurt the entire class.
Nancy Tosh
It is vital to communicate on the level of the student. The Instructor should lead by example and set the tone for the communication and the frequency of the communication. With all of the tools available this should be thoroughly evaluated and thought through before implementation.
It is very important for the teacher to explain the different ways of communicating in a course. Know the different types of students that are in classes. They usually use different forms of communication; you have to get to them anyway.
Every person has his own way of communicating and we as instructors have to get to know them.
There always has to be a margin to enhance our way to communicate with others in this case our students. Besides teaching a course is our responsability to teach ways of proper communication channels to our students and make sure they feel comfortable with it, the results would be awesome fro both the student and the instructor.
We must understand the different generations to be able to impact with strategies, according to their strengths. It is important to identify the strongest skills of the student online, in order to develop the learning process.
Glad to know I've been followig some of these communication guidelines in my courses. But also happy to have learn I can still do more to help my students. I was interesting identifying my friends, familiy and myself in the generational descriptioins. Those were really spot on!
