Topic outline

◄Your Online Voice and Persona
►The Art of Teaching in an Online Classroom

  • Communication

    Goal: The online teacher promotes student success throughclear expectations, prompt reponses, and regular feedback.

    • Objectives:

      • to understand the basic forms of communication
      • to understand the advantages and disadvantages of synchronous and asynchronous 

      In order to be en effective communicator, you need to know the two basic kinds of communication in an online environment, sychronous and asynchronous communication.

      Synchronous communication occurs when participants of a conversation are listening and responding in real time. Examples of synchronous communication include face-to-face interactions, telephone conversations, instant messaging, chat and point-to-point video conferencing.

      Synchronous communication provides an opportunity for sharing general ideas and quick information. Community leaders may choose an occasional face-to-face forum depending on the group's purpose. There are no current face-to-face expectations for this course, however, we will be using Chat to communicate in a synchronous mode.

      Chat is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Anybody registered as an AccelerateU online course user can schedule a chat between registered course participants. Community leaders, as well as participants, may lead discussions in a chat.

    • Chat icon
      Practice Chat Room

    •  

      Asynchronous communication is communication that takes place in a non-simultaneous manner. Some forms of asynchronous communication are United States mail, e-mail, discussion boards, bulletin boards, newsgroups, list serves, newspapers and other print publications. Asynchronous communication means that there is a significant gap of time between the creation and dissemination of the information and the receipt of the information.

      A registered participant can post to discussion boards any time of the day, any day of the week.

      For this activity, you will be communicating with fellow group members by adding a message to the discussion board.

    • Forum icon
      What are some benefits of asynchronous communication? In what ways could this form of communication be at a disadvantage to the learner? Forum

    •  

      Teaching in a Text-Based Environment

      One of the most difficult things to do is to "teach" or communicate in a text based environment.  Working with students online promotes its own set of challenges. In order to be an effective instructor you need to polish a fine-tuned set of communication skills.

      Communication Tips:

      • Make your writing crystal clear!
      • Err on the side of downplaying humor within your course.  Few people can ensure that the recipient interprets the sentence or passage as amusing.
      • Write in bulleted lists. ( Important points get lost in paragraphs.)
      • List expectations and objectives up front.
      • Share online habits with students (online availability,  grading window, policy on retakes, etc.)
      • State student expectations in an online environment.
      • Emphasize that online courses are for learning- not socializing (If that's their only frame of reference then you have a teachable moment!)
      • Take a non-judgemental or neutral stance in response to students.

      Read the articles listed below and be ready to discuss in the forum.

    • File icon
      Giving Effective Feedback File
    • Page icon
      What Are My Tools? Page
    • Forum icon
      After reading the articles, share an insight or a suggestion you may have for the group. Forum

    •  

      Let's Practice!

      Below are some scenarios that require skilled teaching, coaching and responding in the online environment.  Post your responses specifically noting your actions and how you would handle the situation in forums below:

    • Scenario
       
      Student 1 has a disability and is homebound. He works on the assigned two online courses with the help of him mother and two tutors, who visit during the week.
      A month after the start of the semester, you notice some significant changes that aren't typical online behavior.  The student is taking months to complete an online quiz, but activity reports show that he has been accessing content for short periods of time.  You wonder why you never communicate with the student; it's always with the mom. This student's grades seem very high for quizzes and tests, but not for written projects. Consider your possible course of action. Post your ideas in the forum below.
    • Forum icon
      What would you do about Student 1? How would you communicate with the mother and the school to assess the situation? Forum
◄Your Online Voice and Persona
►The Art of Teaching in an Online Classroom