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Online Course Layout And Organization

For those of us that have been working in online education for some time, we know that not all online students do well in their online courses. Statistics show us over and over that there is a much higher dropout rate than what is experienced in traditional face-to-face courses. While there are many different reasons for this, some of them are personal to the student…many reasons for dropping an online course are related to the level of support provided at an institutional level as well as a course level. Here are a few simple strategies that instructors can use to provide support to students in their online courses.

Feedback from students indicates that dropping out of an online course is often the result of feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by the amount of information that is presented and the way in which it is presented. This cognitive overload can be the experience if information is not easy to follow and organized in a logical manner. Unfortunately, in these cases the students may find they are spending too much time simply trying to figure how to navigate and locate the information they need to be successful. Course layout and organization can reduce this feeling of frustration and help students focus on the content and assessments…rather than navigating the site.

  • Use a simple and consistent layout and use the same layout for each lesson, module or unit etc. For example, an overview, readings, lecture, discussions, assignments and/or quizzes.
  • Do provide a good mix of written direction as well as audio/video directions. Some students will appreciate BOTH, while others may prefer just one style of delivery.
  • Always provide a quick course tour that shows students how to navigate the course including how to get help if need be. A simple 1 – 2 minute screencast will go a long way.
  • Always provide a quick lesson tour that provides details and expectations for that particular lesson. This is a great way to proactively address any questions that students might have. This is also a way to personalize the course that students will appreciate.
  • And when appropriate provide an assignment tour that provides details and expectations related to a specific and more involved assignment such as a signature assignment or a capstone project.

-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

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Avoid Burnout

Many folks that I interact with outside of Higher Education are interested in hearing about my work in online education, specifically my work as an online instructor. I often hear that they wish they had this dream job and could work from home on their own schedule. What they don’t realize is that working as an online instructor is much more time-consuming than expected and can be related directly to professional burn-out.

There are a lot of reasons why online instructors may experience burn-out. For example, taking on a large number of courses, the lack of face-to-face conversations and the volume of feedback and grading that is required. And for those individuals that work as online instructors in addition to their “other job” it is difficult to provide high quality responses to discussions and emails at the end of a normal work day.

Here are a few items that may help avoid feeling burned-out:

Management – develop strong classroom management skills. For example, often students have the same questions as in previous terms. Proactively address these questions at the start of the course or lesson. Are you providing similar feedback over and over….find a way to automate this. Establish set office hours at varying times throughout the week.

Time – have a set time of day that you log into your classes. When you finish teaching for the day, do not go back to it. And take breaks to avoid sitting for an extended period of time. Don’t do all of the grading in one session.

Talk – ask students for phone meetings as needed, rather than relying on email. Call a fellow online instructor to discuss strategies. Talk to a friend or neighbor who works in an unrelated field.

Read – read academic journals and blogs to gain new teaching techniques and strategies that you could adopt in your classes. [and of course, read for pleasure].

Health – eat nutritiously, exercise and sleep well to be fit for the job. Have some soft music playing in the background while teaching. Don’t eat in your office/workspace. Get out and go for a quick walk.

Connect – create a social media outlet where students can follow you. Set up an Instagram or Twitter account where you can invite students to view your content and help you feel more connected.

Overall, take your time, find balance and have fun!

-RG

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Top 5 List: Effective Group Projects In Online Courses

Top 5 List

Participating in group projects will offer students the chance to develop interpersonal communication skills, build relationships with each other and increase the level of competencies as each member brings something different to the group. In online courses, however, where work is done asynchronously students are resistant to working in groups with others.

Students say that they do not like group projects because they are expected to contribute more than others or they will have difficulty scheduling times to meet with each other. Students also report being uncomfortable with the idea of being assigned an individual grade based on the work of others.

Having taught fully online courses for over 15 years I’ve discovered a few best practices that can be used for group projects in online courses:

Small groups – use smaller groups wherever possible. As groups become larger, the more challenging meetings and communication can be. Having an odd number of group members also eliminates the potential for groups being split when a decision is needed. Encourage groups to come to a unanimous decision knowing that this may not always be possible. Having an odd number guarantees there were always be a majority in the event of a team vote. Depending on the overall size of your course you’ll have to define exactly what a small group means. Does this mean a group of seven or nine… or can this be a group of three or five?

Expectations – all assignments should have general directions with a rubric explaining exactly how assignments will be assessed. For group projects, it is important to go beyond this and define exactly what the individual contributions and expectations for each member are. A good strategy to follow here is to divide the project into equal parts for each member of the group that they all know exactly what they’re expected to do. All expectations should be laid out within a framework that will help facilitate the overall process.

Shared space – all learning management systems (LMS) have tools that facilitate communication for group work. Create a shared private space for each individual group where they can connect with each other and share ideas away from the other students who are not part of the smaller group. At a minimum there should be a place to have discussions, share files and allow for real-time chat. Instructors should provide directions for the use and make suggestions that will help students be successful. It is key that all students understand how to access the shared space. Ask groups to conduct all of their discussions in the LMS rather than rely on tools that you as the instructor can not access. This is helpful should you be called upon to act as judge or jury during times of conflict.

Monitor – a best practice to consider in an online courses is to monitor the shared group space and make it known to all students that an instructor will be present. By consistently offering advice and feedback as work progresses instructors will be modeling the expected use of the shared space. Instructors should find a balance between providing feedback and being too involved. The goal here is to simply guide the process and help make adjustments as needed. By monitoring the shared space faculty will also build presence within the course and create another opportunity to engage the students.

Individual and group grades – it is important to assign both individual and group grades for any group work assigned. Students need to be assessed on their individual contributions as well as how they participated with the other members of the group. The individual grades requires clear expectations and assigning individual grades increases individual accountability that will lead to a positive collaborative experience.

Overall online instructors should not eliminate effective pedagogical techniques that are present in traditional courses such as group work. Online instructors must take advantage of the technologies and best practices to create equal learning opportunities for students in the online space.

-RG

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Top 5 List: Ideas For Training Faculty

Top 5 List

Training faculty often falls within the scope of work of those that practice instructional design and/or educational technology. This training can be challenging when it comes to the use of new digital technologies and tools. While some of my colleagues over the years have expressed how challenging this can be, I find that to be just the opposite of my experience. The training should focus on several strategies and this will lead to an effective and efficient outcome for all of those that are involved. Here are couple things to consider:

Relationship building – this strategy will offer the opportunity to apply newly acquired knowledge directly into daily practice. Building a professional relationship allows the person doing the training to better understand the baseline knowledge and comfort level of the individual receiving the training. This allows open communication that can lead to possible opportunities for collaboration in the future.

Staying informed – research is a very important part of training. To research the latest trends in higher education, instructional design and learning in general can serve as a starting point for training development. Many times faculty are not able to articulate what they need because they don’t know what the options are.

Walk the walk – the person conducting the training should have an inside scoop on what is involved in teaching courses prior to conducting any training. A key ingredient will be that the trainers have first hand knowledge of the entire process of building a course: designing, developing, implementing, assessing and revising.

Build bridges – instructional designers have the opportunity to view a variety of courses across different disciplines. This offers a unique perspective and can often serve as a bridge between faculty members. Many times faculty would like to collaborate across disciplines but they’re just not aware of what others are doing. Sharing information across disciplines will benefit all involved in the process.

Leadership – successful instructional designers that do training proactively support faculty and allow faculty to share experiences with each other. One of the ways to do this is to establish an online faculty learning community within the institution. In this space ideas can be shared in an effective manner. Once established,  some of the things it can be shared include job aids, quick tips, best practices and other digital tools to increase efficiency and improve student outcomes.

-RG

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Team Motivation

Recently, I came across a problem statement from the early 1960’s and it tied nicely with the topic Mission and Vision statements.

Many years ago I was lucky enough to work with a gentleman who had made a career of providing consulting and corporate training services. While I am not sure this would classify as a Mentor-Mentee relationship, he did leave a lasting impression. 

During our time together I attended several workshops that he facilitated on the topic of Mission Statements. Many of his workshops were focused on small teams that existed inside of much larger organizations. 

The workshops were always great and he was a great facilitator…no matter the size of the audience. Very personable and connected with all in attendance. During his workshops he would educate attendees on the purpose of a vision statement and a mission statement for their larger organization as well as their smaller working group/team. 

As workshops moved along and small teams started to zero-in on their missions statements he would ask the teams how motivated they were feeling. It was no surprise that hands did NOT shoot into the air by attendees who felt especially motivated. 

These mission statements were not motivating. The problem he explained was that they are simply vague statements. Samples usually included:

  • To empower creation
  • To change the world
  • To become the number 1…
  • To give everyone power
  • Etc.

He would push the teams further to develop a vision… a future state of their smaller working team. This helped with motivation, but only slightly. 

The real change came about when he introduced the idea of the Mission Essential Task List. [I believe this was a requirement of the military during wartime missions]. This was a to-do list of the tasks that members of the team would do regularly to achieve their desired future state [Vision] that would be directly aligned with their Mission and that of the larger organization.

Today, I am wondering if an exercise in Problem Statement creation might be beneficial to smaller groups that have been created inside of larger organizations.

Problem statements are very similar to Mission Statements but are tied directly to a reality of something that needs to be fixed or changed. Fixing or changing some product, service or process is what motivates people. Problem statements don’t have to describe a problem, just something that can be solved. It is possible to arrive at the correct answer.

Finding the correct answer is especially motivating to those individuals that work in technology.  Here are a few things that will make a problem statement more motivating:

  • Learning – individuals that work in technology would love to learn new things and master them
  • Value – individuals that work in technology would love to work on something that makes a difference
  • Competition – individuals that work in technology would love to compete and prove their intelligence and hold bragging rights
  • Difficulty – individuals that work in technology would love to solve a problem that initially seems to be unsolvable

The problem statement mentioned at the beginning of this post was:
“First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. “ – John F. Kennedy in May 1961.

-RG

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Online Discussion Forums

Many years ago distance education courses were labeled as correspondence courses. We now refer to courses being taken across a great distance simply as online courses. One of the biggest differences between the older correspondence courses and more recent online courses is the idea of online discussion forums for the students. The idea here being that students can communicate, debate and share ideas in general about the course content.

Over the years we’ve learned many things about online discussion forums and here are a few things to keep in mind that can help instructors maximize the benefits of online discussions. 

Domination – a number of studies show that a few students typically dominate an online discussion forum, this is very similar to a traditional face-to-face discussion. Overall students still have a tendency to talk more in online discussions than they would in a face-to-face environment. The benefit here is that this has a tendency to draw out the quiet students who might shy away from discussions in a face-to-face environment. This is exactly why discussion forums should be a key component to any online course. 

Unequal – it is important for faculty to establish requirements for participation but they must realize that equal participation is not going to be likely. No matter the requirement there is a small group of students who will still dominate the discussion. If too many discussion items are required for each student this may have a negative impact by leading students to post just enough to meet the requirements.

Participation increases – in general studies have shown that the initial discussion takes place between faculty and students but as time goes on students start talking to each other on a more regular basis. If the goal is to move the course from the traditional lecture format and include more discussion this is a positive. This is most likely the result of every student having an equal opportunity and online discussion so it makes sense that they will organically start speaking to each other. Overall faculty should be involved in, but not dominate any of the discussion forums. Providing a solid structure and a gentle nudge when necessary will be just enough to let it get taken over by students.

Interactions – researchers have found that responses generally contained supportive messages about each other’s postings. This is important to recognize as many people who do not participate in these types of discussion forums generally have a negative connection to anonymous online discussion feeds that contain a lot of inappropriate and flaming text. 

Challenges – one of the challenges in creating discussion items is the requirement that all students make an original posting. Oftentimes this creates multiple discussion threads that are hard to follow and students will run out of original ideas after a few postings have already been made…thus posting unoriginal comments.

Faculty should consider the purpose of the original posting requirement. What is the goal? Is it to simply be creative, then responding to someone else’s point of view might contain more creativity than trying to develop an original posting. Faculty might consider requiring one or two original thoughts on a particular topic, instead of requiring a *post once and reply twice strategy*.

Researchers have also found that in general most responses to your discussion items are supportive and positive in nature. Students in many cases appear to be too nice and not willing to challenge one another in a professional manner. If the goal is to participate in a constructive disagreement an instructor might deliberately pick an extreme point of view to stir things up and invite students into a disagreement and then facilitate the interaction and engagement amongst the students.

– RG

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Improving Group Work – A Student Point Of View

Many of the college courses offered today include some type of group-work such as an assignment, project, presentation or some other type of paper or report. This includes both online courses and traditional face-to-face courses. Unfortunately, instructors [including myself] are often met with resistance from the students who don’t like working in groups and feel that their grade will be negatively impacted by group members who do not share the work.

We all know that there’s plenty of research that details the many benefits that come along with group-work. This is not just limited to developing teamwork skills but…active learning, improving communication skills and time-management skills. And as a result of the increased group work found in today’s office environments it’s important for students to have some prior experience with group work. Students will need to have a collaborative attitude and the ability to work with others at just about any place of employment.

Several years ago I was inspired by a presentation I saw at an EDUCAUSE conference that I attended. The theme of this presentation was getting to know your students through the use of direct conversation and/or task force that included members of the student body. 

After returning from the conference I made a point to start working closer with students and small groups myself to get a better sense of what they thought they needed to have from their instructors in order to have a more enjoyable small group experience within a course. Here are a few things that I learned:

**Communicate – clearly communicate the purpose of the group work being assigned. Specifically detail the benefits that relate to academics AND the professional workplace.

**Discuss –  hold a discussion about past group work to identify concerns. This is the moment when perceptions can be altered to learn new strategies for collaboration.

**Define – define the differences between cooperative learning and collaborative learning. This is a good time to put into place the best strategies for completing a project as a group.

**Time – set aside time and technology for group work. If you are facilitating a face-to-face course, you should consider using some class time to ensure participation. If you are facilitating an online course you should consider providing a technology [with training] to allow for easy collaboration. Google Hangouts is currently a popular option for many reasons. 

**Visit –  provide guidance and support by visiting each small group on a regular basis.

**Allow – students often ask to be allowed to evaluate each other. From my experience this has many benefits. One of the things that I have been impressed by is that of the accountability students have to each other. 

As educators we are expected to prepare the students for their professional lives in the workplace after they have graduated. Some of the top priorities mentioned by employers when seeking job candidates include the ability to work in groups, good communication skills and a good work ethic. Overall it’s important to teach students how to be better team players and how to deal with all of the things that come along with Group work and the group collaboration process.

– RG

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Time Management – Creating An Extra Hour In Your Day

One thing that we would agree on is that we could all use more time. No matter what we do it seems as if there just is not enough time to deal with work, family and individual tasks to keep our lives rolling along. If you could create an extra hour in your day what would you do with it? From what I have seen and read lately here are a few things that productive individuals do to squeeze more time out of already full days.

  • Get it done – whether you run your own small business or work for a large corporation most things you do don’t have to be perfect. Unless you’re a surgeon and are dealing with Life and death situations…just get over it already and get it out there – get it done.
  • End of day list – the one thing that efficient individuals due at the end of each day is to organize the tasks that need to be completed the next day and write them down. Make a list of the day so that you may begin first thing the next morning.
  • Block the Internet – many of us now work in environments where we have easy access to the Internet via a workstation or some handheld device that has easy access to the Internet. It’s all too easy to slide over To Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or a variety of other news sources. Each time you slide over to one of these websites you can almost count-on a loss of 30 minutes. Personally I have discovered the Chrome browser –  the StayFocused extension. While not a perfect solution it does remind me to be aware of my time.
  • Automation – take a hard look at the processes you do over and over again each day. Are you still doing these things by hand or with some outdated software? You might be able to do them faster and better with some cloud-based option. Google Drive comes to mind as an example of a cloud-based tool that helps me create efficiencies on a daily basis.
  • Delegation – of course we can do things ourselves and can probably do these things better and faster. However, that may not be the best use of our time. If we are in a management position or running our own business we might better use our time on time-saving activities or income-producing activities. The bottom line is just delegate.
  • The answer is no – the simple way to keep something off your to do list is not to put it there to begin with. Before you take on a difficult or time-consuming activity just simply ask yourself “what impact will this have on my time?”
  • No multitasking – set aside time to focus on just one thing and see it through to completion. Many individuals might be great multitaskers but actually doing too many things can be counterproductive…and this only lengthens your to do list.

Have fun – stay focused.

-RG

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Getting Things Done

Getting things done – for many individuals the hardest part of getting organized is simply deciding what’s the most important or what’s the highest priority. Individuals are often paralyzed by the fact that they simply don’t know where to start on a project. Here’s a short list of things to help you get organized and get things done:

  • If something takes less than five minutes, just do it now. Your to-do list won’t become cluttered with small items that can add up to big chunks of time or provide an excuse to do it later.
  • When you take the time to make a note to make that phone call later be sure to add the number or other information that you’ll need. This will make it easier to make calls when you find that you have a few minutes during the day, now the information will be right at your fingertips.
  • Group smaller items like phone calls and purchases you need to make. You’ll be able to prioritize them easily and then decide which you can accomplish with the time that you have right now.
  • Always capture the to-dos as they occur to you. Use your device to record a quick message or ask the device to set a reminder for you.

-RG