I wanted to make sure that I took the opportunity to share with everyone some of the great writing that Rochelle has been doing lately regarding the techniques she uses to engage students in her online classes. In her post on Engaging Students in Online Classes, she points out the importance of asking good questions that make students “want” to participate and share their opinions.
How do you mimic the Socratic Method in an online forum? I feel it’s actually easier. A facilitator can think about the best way to word a forum thread in just the right way to elicit substantive posts from her students.
The first step is to just gets students talking and thinking. Once they are engaged, you can use questions to help guide them deeper into the learning and help form connections to important course concepts. It is no easy task in an online class, though, to get students sharing their thoughts. It can be incredibly intimidating for students to take the leap of faith from lurking to participating. Rochelle talks about the need for online instructors to be “Bigger than Life,” and explains the need to open yourself up and let students get to know you.
Respectful, courteous and friendly expression is imperative. But another important thing is that students really want to know you and it’s important for you to allow it! You will need to strike a comfortable balance, but self-disclosure truly helps a student be open to the lessons you teach. I find that when I reveal something of my self (again the emphasis on appropriate, comfortable self-disclosure), that my students will follow right along.
She also points out how important it is for the instructor to model sharing for students and how this can help to create an environment of openness and trust. These are key to the formation of community which is one of the most essential but difficult elements of a successful online class to achieve. Yet, it is stated over and over in the research and literature about online learning that perception of social presence, in addition to affecting outcomes, also impacts both student and instructor satisfaction with the course. This shouldn’t come as any surprise. Whether teaching face to face or online, it is a much more enjoyable experience for everyone when there are lively discussions and active student involvement.
There is a series of video interviews on YouTube where experienced online educators are asked to talk about what they feel are core competencies for online instructors (I’ve only looked at a few of them, but they might be worth checking out for online instructors who have some time over the break). This video talks about how one study showed that the two strongest indicators of student success in an online class were 1) student and instructor interactions, and 2) student to student interactions.
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It is no secret that getting students actively involved and sharing improves the quality of the class. The ability to actually make this happen, though, can be a difficult skill for new online instructors to develop. What are some of the techniques you use to help increase the interactions you have with your online students?