I have serious concerns about the success of our students in this new online learning environment. Our students do not fit the demographic stated in this course for typical online distance learners who are 25+, often in their 30s and working full time. That type of student has the dedication and maturity to succeed in a self-paced online environment. It’s difficult enough to identify students in our on-campus classrooms who are struggling to understand the material. They often don’t have the “self-advocacy” to ask for help when they need it. As the course mentioned, there is no back row to hide in.
- “Online students must be capable of managing their time wisely, studying effectively, anticipating and adapting to problems, and appraising the effectiveness of their efforts.
- Self-advocacy is the ability to assert oneself or ask for help. In online classrooms, instructors cannot see a confused look on a student’s face. Online students must take the initiative to ask for help before problems become emergencies.”
After nearly completing two online courses in the Google Classroom, what I’m seeing confirms my suspicions. As few as 50% - 60% of the students are marking the assignments as completed, and less than one third after two full weeks into the course. This speaks to the first bullet point I pasted above.
We’ve received exactly zero questions from students about the material or topics being presented. I can’t believe that 122 students watched hours of video, looked over the material in their workbooks and text books, and don’t have questions. Either they are not completing the assignments, or as the second bullet point above points out, they lack the self-advocacy to ask for help when they don’t understand something.
Getting our younger, less self-motivated students to engage in this online format is going to be a challenge, and I’m hoping that having the upcoming virtual study and office hour video conferencing sessions breaks the ice and gets them to engage this new format.
