The instructor should monitor the online dialogue regularly and consistently. The interactions between participants should be analyzed and all learners should be encouraged to participate. Key points should be highlighted, and the dialogue is to be mainstreamed and focused. The instructor should close and summarize each discussion respectively. Take away from this module: Monitoring of the thread decreases the risk of minimum discussion or dialogue that is unfocused.
I think I'll apply creating multiple discussion boards so students won't have to scroll through endless messages. This will help with organization on my end for grading purposes, but also for the student to jump ahead and access specific topics.
I will be preparing a rubric for Clinical preparedness. Students will know what the objectives and expectations are beforehand rather than coming into clinicals blindly. Being specific and clear about the objectives and what the evaluation will entail.
Communication is important, but also teachers need to monitor conversations, posts and other items posted to ensure they are within the code of conduct and on topic.
In the portion of the course, I learned that it is best to be a facilitator of learning at times as well as facilitating the course content. This portion is describing how crucial the timing and content of instructor responses are to discussion boards. I have experienced that if I give away the "punchline" too early, many of the students who have not responded will give very similar responses. I have since tailored my response to be encouraging and to ask questions to keep the discussion going without giving an outright message of correct vs. not correct right away. I also have been pleasantly surprised at how cohorts have become a community through these discussion boards and this trust spills out in to the live sessions.
I learned that over a rubrics makes it easier to asses and review assignments and allows us to give feedback to our students.
Providing the criteria and rubric ahead of time will ensure the students understand what is expected of them. This should be used consistently throughout the term and measure a student's progress.
The first thing we need to do as instructors are to clearly outline the expectations for communications, especially how discussion board posts should crafted. That would include both the initial response as well as participation posts with the instructor and other students. While the module states the instructor should not post too much, I believe to get the conversation moving it requires intervention by the instructor to facilitate and throw out ideas for discussion. I have seen limited online discussion in courses ranging from the 100 level courses at the undergraduate level to doctoral level courses. It seems without clear expectations and an active guide many students will do the minimum regardless of their educational level. Another good point is the need for the instructor to model proper behavior and how the communiques should be crafted.
Communication and collaborlation are important to on line learning.
collaboartion is key because your students and you are brainstorming to find a common ground that works
Just because they are online does not mean they are not in tthe class room.
Consulting your rubric when giving feedback informs consistent, accurate, and applicable feedback.
Rubricks help me look at students work and assign grades much more easily and fair accross the board.
A rubric is a great tool for being constant with grading student work.
By using a rubric this will help you effectively communicate the etiquette for posting and wait for the studnts to reply don't be so quick to answer.
Online instructors should clearly and effectively illustrate expectations via the syllabus and well-written rubrics.
I learned the importance to give detailed rubrics to the students so they can have good communication in the discussion forums.
Communication can be difficult for some, so I try and make it more of an activity than a "lesson". For instance, teaching the NEC book, I try and get students to not only come up with the answer to a code question, but then tell me in a PM so that others don't see the answer. Then I encourage the students to discuss how the found it, give small hints, and just generally improve everyones understanding of the material.
The guide-on-the-side is an interesting concept to me. This seems to allow for the students to become a little more independent and seek out the solutions to the problems before asking the instructor for help. The instructor must be sure to provide the right kind and amount of feedback so they can keep the students engaged, but also independent.
Being a good guide on the side and having rubrics for communication and expectations of online content.
