Category: Professionalism

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Help Wanted

Once you have set aside the time and have the energy to dig in and create or improve your online course(s)…don’t do it alone. Ask for help. Take advantage of the many resources and support teams within your institution. If need be, look for help from others that may be outside of your institution. Here are a few ideas to consider:

Mentor – Look for an individual who has some experience teaching online. This doesn’t need to be a formal mentor relationship, just someone who’s been down that path already who can share some words of wisdom. Teaching online courses is a skill that is unique from teaching classes in person. Take your time and find someone who is comfortable teaching online and learn from their experience. Be selective and look for someone who is thriving and willing to share not only their successes but some of their failures.

Colleagues – Remember you’re not the only one trying to create an excellent experience for your students. Look to your colleagues who are also trying to be excellent online teachers. A great way to discover new strategies and ideas is to interact with those who are also wrestling with the same teaching issues. If you have regular meetings with your colleagues you might consider adding a brief 5 to 10 minutes Block of time to simply share a tip or strategy related to online teaching. Another strategy that many faculty find useful is the idea of a shared reading experience or a book club. Other faculty have pursued workshops, faculty showcases, and conferences to learn more about what other faculty are doing within online education. The bottom line here is to commit to learning and learning and other faculty members.

Instructional Designer – While you are the expert in your field you might consider seeking help from an instructional designer or a learning designer. Individuals that work in these roles are experts in effective online teaching and learning. This relationship could consist of a conversation over a cup of coffee, a 15-minute conversation to brainstorm new ideas or a longer meeting(s) that include a complete course design or redesign. Designers can significantly improve your experience and enjoyment with online teaching. Your students will be glad that you invested the time and energy.
Teaching online for the first time may feel overwhelming. Start with the basics and take your time. Once you have that first course completed it’s time to improve. Start with small things to improve upon… pick just one thing. When you’ve completed that first thing, simply move on to the next. Experienced online faculty will tell you that your course is never perfect.

Take your time and commit to constant revisions. Seek new and better ideas…always!

-RG

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Myth Buster

There are many online teachers that are dedicated to the modality and have figured out some great strategies and best practices. However, there are a few myths about online teaching and learning that still exist. Here are a few:

**Teaching online is not an enjoyable experience

Many teachers in higher education don’t see online teaching as a rewarding experience. In fact, many teachers report that teaching in-person is a much more rewarding and enjoyable experience. Perhaps this is because teachers that have made the switch to on-line teaching find they are doing much more administrative work than expected. If teachers simply log on, grade student work, review discussion posts, and manage other basic functions it may seem that this modality is not going to be enjoyable.

Teaching online courses can be very rewarding. From my own experience and experience of some of my closest colleagues, I would say that a majority of the online students are not only working but are also caring for children or other members of their families. These students take online classes because it’s the only way for them to pursue higher education. Many online teachers report getting a closer glimpse into the personal lives of their students, those experiences, and those challenges that the students choose to overcome when taking online classes. An experienced colleague of mine recently told me that the opportunities provided by a classroom without walls and across great distances are how they find joy in teaching online.

**Teaching online classes doesn’t work

In 2017, EDUCAUSE conducted a survey on faculty and information technology and discovered that approximately one-half of these faculty didn’t agree that online learning was effective. There is plenty of evidence that online courses can produce student learning outcomes that are comparable to those in-person courses. This evidence continues to roll in year after year. Just like any in-person class, the high-quality on-line versions will require excellent on-line teachers. It is the responsibility of the teachers and the designers with which they work to create a highly engaging and effective on-line classes.

**Students that take online classes are lazy

Some students that take on-line classes may put in a minimal amount of work, and just enough to get by with. Does this mean that lazy students are more likely to take an on-line class? Or have we as educators created an environment on-line that contributes to this type of student disengagement? Things to consider:

  • Are we offering these courses to a student population that is more likely to be working and raising a family?
  • Are we offering these courses to students who do not have the adequate equipment to be successful?
  • Are we asking faculty without experience in on-line education to lead these courses?
  • Are we presenting an unorganized and confusing course design that is less than appealing to the students?

Any one of these items can make on-line learning a challenge. A combination of two or more of these items can be a disaster.

Successful online learning requires a certain level of skill that some students simply do not possess. This means that on-line students must be able to manage their time well, motivate themselves, direct their own learning, and seek help when it is needed.

Successful online teaching requires that faculty make an extra effort to help those students persist. This takes awareness of the challenges of on-line education as well as careful thought, expert planning, empathy, and a high level of comfort with technology. 

**Online courses can run on auto-pilot

Some on-line teachers subscribe to the idea that on-line courses, once created, can simply be run by themselves and students can successfully meet the objectives. Maybe this is because online courses take such a tremendous effort to prepare before the very first day. In theory, all assignments, activities, discussion prompts, and the gradebook should be created in advance so that students can see everything from the first day. Unfortunately, some online teachers feel that students should be able to walk themselves through the on-line course without much engagement or guidance from the teacher.

On-line teachers should plan to guide their students through the course by being active and engaged weekly. Best practice includes blocking out time on the weekly calendar as if you’re attending the class in person. Be available, post announcements, reply to discussions, and grade students’ work on a regular basis. Just like an in-person course, teaching online requires continuous involvement from the teacher.

-RG

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Continue To Improve

Good teaching, like any other profession, requires continuous improvement in order to create the best experience for students and faculty. A small investment of time and energy will help faculty develop as a professional, regardless of the modality in which they teach. The smallest of efforts can lead to BIG impacts.

Teaching online is still a relatively new method of delivery when compared to teaching in person, here are a few things to consider to improve the experience:

  • Use a RSS feed or email to subscribe to articles related to teaching and learning
  • Seek out best practices be used by other faculty members – ask what others have done 
  • Read books and consider joining a book club that reviews effective strategies to be used with students
  • Enroll & participate in workshops that are offered by your institution or technology vendor
  • Get Help – ask for student volunteers to help run discussions, manage technology, and assist other students that may have questions

Pursue your own professional development as a commitment to yourself and student success. Sharing what you have learned with other faculty and your students will not only engage those involved, but will also energize you.

-RG

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Invite Students to a Pleasant Place – Your Online Class

Faculty are faced with a few hard questions about the online classes that they lead. If being honest, many would admit that they do not enjoy being online as much as the in-person environment. This might explain why less than 10 percent prefer to teach online exclusively.  Here are a few of those questions:

  • Do you enjoy being online?
  • Do you prefer interacting with students in an online environment?
  • Do you look forward to communicating with students online?

If you don’t enjoy working in an online learning environment, imagine what this might be like for some of the students.

Faculty that teach in-person do many things to help make students feel comfortable in the physical classroom. Smile, greet students, use eye contact, and answer questions. Even when the physical space may be less than attractive, there are many ways to make the space more welcoming and comfortable for all.

The same strategy can be applied to online learning environments. Making the effort to ensure an inviting, comfortable, and  pleasant online learning space will create a more favorable learning environment.

Students will be comfortable and enjoy being in your online class if you:

  • Use interactive tools for engagement such as media and visuals.
  •  Minimize the amount of text being used in general. Streamline course navigation and organization. Less is more.
  • Encourage participation and create a positive/optimistic experience that speaks to student success.
  • Show compassion and care for your students in both a private and public way.
  • Be respectful of the students’ time by being present, engaged, and punctual.

-RG

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Walk A Mile

When online students are in their class, they aren’t anywhere near the faculty member. The students aren’t there physically. Most online students do their coursework when they are alone, and that means either at home or in a public space such as a library or a local coffee shop. These online students are not able to simply raise a hand and ask a question or turn to another student who is seated next to them and ask for clarification. This creates a strong sense of isolation and sometimes overwhelming need for support. Much different then when classes are conducted in the traditional in-person setting.

Faculty that have taught in a traditional classroom setting can pick up on those nonverbal cues from students. It is much easier to determine if students are tuning out, becoming bored, not understanding or just confused. Faculty can make adjustments on-the-fly much easier in a traditional classroom setting. When working with online students, faculty aren’t able to determine if students are puzzled over what has been presented to them or if providing simple clarification is needed. 

The question then becomes how do online faculty support online students just as they would in a traditional classroom setting. By walking a mile in the shoes of an online student faculty will be able to anticipate their isolation and plan for it in better course design.

Instructional designers will encourage faculty members to try to make sense of what is being presented on a computer screen. It’s necessary for faculty to get outside of their own head where their own online course makes perfect sense to them and everything is clear. Faculty need to try to envision how their students will experience the course. Some questions to consider:

  • If your online course uses discussions is it crystal-clear how long the students’ responses should be? And should students cite their sources?
  • Are there detailed grading rubrics being used for all assignments? Will students be able to view the grading rubric before beginning work on any particular assignment?
  • Will examples of successful projects from previous semesters be provided to the students?

Faculty that are offering their courses online should work closely with an instructional designer, and if possible ask a trusted colleague to evaluate their online course and explore the course as if they were students. Faculty may be surprised by the feedback they get by following through on this course review exercise. Common feedback may include things such as course materials being presented in an unorganized fashion, intimidating tones being used in assignment instructions and a lack of clarity of what to do on the very first day of the course. Faculty should take whatever feedback is provided and consider making a few adjustments to the course.

In a perfect situation, students should know exactly what is being taught and what they are supposed to do as a result. Online faculty must be intentional and put themselves in the shoes of the student and designing for clarity must be the priority.

-RG

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You Do You – Just Be Yourself

Many faculty that enjoy teaching in-person report that they like to interact with students, share their experiences, passion for their field and be present when understanding takes place with their students. Faculty will often feed off of the energy from their students during classes that take place in a traditional in-person setting.

With online classes faculty may lose some of these built-in opportunities to connect with their students. This is starting to change. However, the primary vehicle for communication and online courses is still written, in one form or another. Presenting students with just a page of text can create high levels of anxiety and do very little to motivate students. How can we make this more personal and enjoyable for students and for faculty.

Video is a great option to deliver messages, lectures and class expectations to students in an online course. The best practice is to simply do what you would do in-person,  just be authentic. In other words, You Do You.

It will be difficult to avoid using any written content and an online course. The goal is to try to use your own unique voice in the course. Consider this for any lectures, course tours, lesson tours, assignment tours, answers to questions and weekly announcements. Here are a few things to consider in your online courses:

Support – when writing to your students, be supportive. For example, rather than say “You won’t pass the class if you skip the quizzes”. An alternative here may be saying something such as “Thank you for all of your hard work in this class. I know it can be tough to juggle online courses with other responsibilities. Don’t forget to take all the quizzes to help you be successful. Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns. Looking forward to your future contributions. Thank you”.

Be Yourself – sometimes the obvious distance between the faculty member in the student and online courses comes across via written communications. Don’t add to this inadvertently, be mindful of your tone. Use a sense of urgency. For example at the end of your instructions you might consider using something such as: “please reach out to me at any time with questions or comments of any nature related to this assignment. You can do this!” This will come across as being much more supportive than: “Questions – use the Q&A discussion forum.” 

A great way to bring your presence into an online class is to simply record yourself. This could be as simple as an audio recording, an informal video recording, or a more professionally done video created in a fully functional media studio. Your understanding of their needs will come across better using this type of technology rather than written communications. The audio and video recordings do not have to be professional. Many faculty will simply use a handheld smartphone to capture their thoughts in the moment and quickly share that recording to the LMS or video server if one is available.

Your online students will appreciate seeing you or at least hearing your voice as you talk about the content within the course. Many students have reported that they enjoy the informal nature of recordings as opposed to the highly rehearsed videos created in a fully functioning media studio. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake or allow a pet or child into the room while videos are being created. This simply lets your students know a little bit more about you as a person and helps to build rapport which ultimately leads to retention. The goal is to simply find ways to be yourself in an online class using technology just as you would do you in a traditional in-person classroom.

-RG

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Online Faculty Should Be Present In Class

In general, effective teaching requires that faculty be present with their students. When faculty are teaching in-person they don’t leave their students. In fact, in a traditional classroom setting faculty engage their students in a number of ways. For example, by answering questions, offering explanations, asking questions, providing leadership and guiding them through the course. Many faculty may arrive early to get ready for class and even stay afterwards to talk 1:1 with students who may need extra support. The bottom line is, these faculty are present and available to their students.

For many faculty who began their careers in traditional classrooms and have made the transition to online courses, being present in the class has been a challenge. Without a regular block of time to meet students in the classroom, prepare content and review student work many faculty may go several days without being present in a class.

A colleague of mine shared a simple suggestion for faculty that may be looking for opportunities to be more present in their online classes. This suggestion was to create a very basic calendar and consider how many hours a week is spent teaching them in person course. Perhaps it’s 10 to 15 hours a week if combining actual in-person classroom time with the time that’s needed for preparing content and grading assignments.

The idea here is to schedule the same amount of time to be present and engaged in the online class. Here are some tips that will help faculty be more present in their online courses:

Weekly announcements – this is a great way to provide an overview of what is expected during the week. This can be done in a couple different ways including a basic email or an informal video. For faculty that are comfortable with an informal video, a video of 1 to 2 minutes is suggested.

Response time – clearly articulate at the beginning of the class and during every weekly announcements that any questions that are received via email or through a question and answer discussion area will be replied to in a specified time frame. Most faculty report that they are comfortable responding to students in 24-36 hours.

Availability – holding regular Office hours and scheduling Time with students by appointment are both going to let students know that you’re available and willing to help if need be.

Discussions – be involved, engaged and talk with students in discussion forums available in the class. This is critical when working with students who have never participated and online class previously. Many faculty members make the mistake of assigning discussion items without clearly explaining or modeling what the expectations are.

Something to consider…faculty who self-report being more present and engaged in their online classes, also report having students who are more present and engaged in the class.

-RG

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Jack Of All Trades

There have been many good conversations lately related to the hiring of instructional designers. And one of the topics that has been brought up time and time again is that of folks positioning themselves as a “jack of all trades” vs “a master of their trade”. Depending on the needs of the hiring committee, this will ultimately determine who is selected to fill an open position. Recently several candidates have had questions related to this and have asked for advice when applying for positions and securing interviews. Should they position themselves as a “jack of all trades” or as “a master of their trade” (being an expert in a smaller range of skills rather than simply being aware of many skills).

After speaking with a number of colleagues it was clear that hiring committees were looking for an individual who might be considered “a master of their trade”. Basically this is someone who has a well-established skillset and not only understands the technology but also understands the psychology of working in the area of instructional design.

For those that want to establish themselves as an expert in the field, an honest assessment of their skills is required. This will position them to be in constant demand and be able to articulate their value. This is exactly what is needed to build a solid reputation. There are a number of ways to gain the expertise needed – such as attending conferences, workshops, webinars, following blogs and listening to podcasts.

How to become an expert? Here are a few things for individuals to consider to become an expert in instructional design.

  • Create a list of current expertise and interests
  • Gain an understanding of what’s trending
  • Interview others in the field (either in-person, via email or through social media)
  • Identify gaps and ask others where skills can be strengthened
  • Clearly define how are you work and prefer to communicate

In order to become an expert you should consider the questions that may be asked by those that have a hiring need. For example: 

  • What are the most common problems you are faced with?
  • What do people do to solve the problems in this area?
  • What mistakes are made time and time again?
  • What do the users need more of?
  • Is there something users are overlooking?
  • What’s growing? What’s fading?
  • What works well? What doesn’t work well? Why?

-RG

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Top 5 List: Making Better Decisions

Top 5 List

In higher education, good decision making is something faculty and staff strive for. Gathering the best and most up-to-date information, listening to others and seeking feedback all play a part in the decision making process. There are many things that can help individuals make smarter decisions that are related to health and wellness. Simply making sure that we are ready to make a decision. 

Here are a few things that can help all of us make the best decisions possible. In other words, answering the question…how do I make better decisions?

Sleep – individuals should sleep 7-8 hours each night. Neurologists have been advising the public of this for years. In fact, neurologists indicate that getting less than this amount of sleep each night will have a negative impact on decision making in a couple of different ways. First, the tired brain will make shortsighted decisions most often. Secondly, individuals that are sleep-deprived are more likely to engage their subconscious which reduces the number of A-ha moments in each day.

Locate evidence – locating evidence that disconfirms an existing belief is one of the biggest obstacles of sound decision making, according to experts. Once individuals come to a tentative conclusion, it is important to seek out information that suggests the opposite side is the better decision, in an effort to avoid confirmation bias. Overcoming confirmation bias will lead to better decision making.

Morning – experts suggest that individuals should make their more important decisions during the morning hours and leave the afternoon hours for more menial tasks and meetings. As we move through the day we become mentally and physically fatigued. When individuals are fatigued, impulsive and poor decisions are more likely to take place. For example, skipping a workout, going off-diet or sending an emotional email that should have waited until…the next morning.

Long-term – time is better spent on important long-term decision-making. Most decisions are either long-term decisions or short term decisions. In an effort to maximize productivity and sustain impact decisions, focusing on long-term choices is the way to go.  

Remove the unimportant – many CEOs, Government officials and creative people wear the same outfit or uniform every day in an effort to save the mental energy for more important decisions. Making better decisions works when smaller distractions have been removed. If the decision doesn’t have an immediate impact on your work relationships or perseverance consider removing it from consideration. Steve Jobs wore the same black turtleneck, blue jeans and new balance sneakers everyday. It quickly became his trademark look. When you think about the co-founder of the most valuable company in the world wearing the same outfit everyday it’s pretty clear that he understood he had a finite capacity to make excellent decisions.

-RG

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Strategies For Engaging Students

For faculty, encouraging student engagement is important in the online environment as the drop-out rates are significantly higher than the traditional face-to-face courses. Engagement like many other things in online education may have a different meaning based on perspective. Here are a few strategies for engaging online students in your online courses, from the faculty perspective:

Feedback – timely feedback on assignments will allow your online students to incorporate the feedback and make improvements for future assignments. This may seem nearly impossible for larger courses. A good strategy that many online faculty use is that of providing examples, templates or models of well-written assignments, this will allow the student to focus on the goals of the assignment. Having a well-written rubric available for online students to review before they begin their work will help them focus on the desired expectations. Online faculty should consider reusing feedback from the previous semester. Based on experience from previous semesters, faculty can proactively address items where students typically run into obstacles and provide clarifying directions as needed.

Interaction – online faculty must be present in their courses in order to engage the students. Faculty can be present in their online courses by participating in discussion forums and asking students probing questions and encouraging the students to ask probing questions of each other.  Faculty can also be present by emailing individual students, groups of students and providing announcements, as needed to keep the discussions moving along.  Group collaboration tools are also becoming more popular and online faculty are finding success in messaging students directly, outside of the LMS. [Slack is a great example of this technology.]

Application – many online students are also working adults and ensuring the content of the course is relevant and can be applied to their real-life/real-world experience is a key item in the effort to keep them engaged. Those students that consider themselves to be working adults are more likely to voice their concerns about an assignment being “busy-work” if they feel that it doesn’t apply to their work life. Online faculty should invest the time at the beginning of the course to get to know the students and the type of work they might be involved in as well as their expectations for the course. Engaging assignments will involve some type of research, developing an original idea and using their critical thinking skills to solve some problem they might be faced with in the workplace.

Interesting – online courses that include some type of hands-on learning activity will generally be more interesting and more engaging.  By asking students to communicate what they have learned about a new technology and how they can apply its use to their current profession/future profession will make their coursework more interesting. As an online instructor, look for opportunities to replace traditional text-based assignments.  Try to incorporate more audio and video  by using online tools such as Flipgrid, VoiceThread or Jing. Using a few different options as a way to present their ideas will keep students motivated and interested in the course. Students all learn differently and providing a variety of options will only enhance the interest in the course and engage the student.

-RG