Category: Educational Technology

Not all students do well in online courses. In fact, the statistics indicate that online courses have a much higher dropout rate compared to traditional face-to-face courses. The dropout rates in online courses tend to be 10 to 20 percent higher than in face-to-face courses. Institutional level factors like technical support, academic support, advising, and availability of resources can support student success in online courses. At the course level, there are many simple strategies and techniques that instructors can use to support students’ success in their online classes. 

There are many different topics to cover and best practices to share in this area of Online Courses and Student Success. In an effort to break the information up into smaller chunks, a different topic will be covered each month for the rest of the year. The complete 5-part series will be seen here:

• August 2018 – Organization and layout of the course
• September 2018 – Communicate clearly
• October 2018 – Preparation
• November 2018 – Chunk the content and scaffold instruction
• December 2018 – Humanize the course

Humanize the course

Students report that one of the main reasons they drop out of online courses or programs is because they feel lonely and isolated. Learning is a social activity; we learn through interactions and discussions with others. In the absence of face-to-face contact, online learning can be an isolating experience if there are no opportunities to interact with others in the course. Humanize the online experience through personal interactions and stories and add the human touch to it.

• Set a warm, welcoming tone right in the beginning of the course to connect with students and find ways to create the week-one excitement…every week.
• Do ice-breaking activities to create a community; ask students to share personal profiles, bios, stories, and other examples of personal information. Students will be less likely to drop the course and let others done if they have made a connection.
• Offer a “live” orientation session through a Web conferencing tool so students have the opportunity to interact with the instructor in real time. For example, virtual office hours.
• Provide a discussion forum for non-course-related social interactions. Keep it fun!
• Encourage peer-to-peer support. Perhaps offer a general discussion area that is primarily for students.
• Use group projects to build rapport among students.
• Provide a personal response to students on their personal profile. This is a MUST. Perhaps have a few canned comments ready to go that can be quickly personalized for each student.
• Always let students know when you are available and that you are open to scheduling time to meet with them as needed. For example, use a closing sentence in all communications that lets students know you’re available. For example,  “as always, contact me with any questions or if I can assist in any way”.

-RG

Not all students do well in online courses. In fact, the statistics indicate that online courses have a much higher dropout rate compared to traditional face-to-face courses. The dropout rates in online courses tend to be 10 to 20 percent higher than in face-to-face courses. Institutional level factors like technical support, academic support, advising, and availability of resources can support student success in online courses. At the course level, there are many simple strategies and techniques that instructors can use to support students’ success in their online classes. 

There are many different topics to cover and best practices to share in this area of Online Courses and Student Success. In an effort to break the information up into smaller chunks, a different topic will be covered each month for the rest of the year. The complete 5-part series will be seen here:

• August 2018 – Organization and layout of the course
• September 2018 – Communicate clearly
• October 2018 – Preparation
• November 2018 – Chunk the content and scaffold instruction
• December 2018 – Humanize the course

Chunk the content and scaffold instruction

Sometimes the workload and reading requirements in online courses may seem daunting to students, especially if they don’t have very good time management and prioritization skills. Chunking and organizing the content meaningfully into modules/units not only makes it easy for students to understand and remember the concepts but also makes it more manageable for them. By doing this, the instructor can present complex concepts/ideas as “bite-size information” so students can understand, apply, and retain the information. By incorporating assessments and feedback with every learning module, instructors have the opportunity to scaffold students’ learning.

• Break large assignments or projects into smaller milestones to help students manage the workload, and provide feedback at each step.
• Provide review sessions or instructional videos where you notice gaps in learning to clarify concepts.
• Release modules one at a time to help set the pace of the course and keep the students together in an effort to help create a learning community.

-RG

Not all students do well in online courses. In fact, the statistics indicate that online courses have a much higher dropout rate compared to traditional face-to-face courses. The dropout rates in online courses tend to be 10 to 20 percent higher than in face-to-face courses. Institutional level factors like technical support, academic support, advising, and availability of resources can support student success in online courses. At the course level, there are many simple strategies and techniques that instructors can use to support students’ success in their online classes. 

There are many different topics to cover and best practices to share in this area of Online Courses and Student Success. In an effort to break the information up into smaller chunks, a different topic will be covered each month for the rest of the year. The complete 5-part series will be seen here:

• August 2018 – Organization and layout of the course
• September 2018 – Communicate clearly
• October 2018 – Preparation
• November 2018 – Chunk the content and scaffold instruction
• December 2018 – Humanize the course

Preparation

Students often enroll in online courses without a realistic understanding of what it takes to be successful in an online environment. Online learning environments are better suited for students who are self-disciplined, motivated, and know how to manage their time. An orientation to online learning and tips on how to succeed in online courses can better prepare students for online courses.

The student orientation should include discussions of:

• Technical skills
• Reasonable weekly time expectations (hours per week)
• Study skills
• Communication expectations
• Resources for technical help, writing, accessibility and others
• Welcome message and personal introductory video of the instructor in a nonacademic setting is a great way to build rapport

-RG

Not all students do well in online courses. In fact, the statistics indicate that online courses have a much higher dropout rate compared to traditional face-to-face courses. The dropout rates in online courses tend to be 10 to 20 percent higher than in face-to-face courses. Institutional level factors like technical support, academic support, advising, and availability of resources can support student success in online courses. At the course level, there are many simple strategies and techniques that instructors can use to support students’ success in their online classes. 

There are many different topics to cover and best practices to share in this area of Online Courses and Student Success. In an effort to break the information up into smaller chunks, a different topic will be covered each month for the rest of the year. The complete 5-part series will be seen here:

• August 2018 – Organization and layout of the course
• September 2018 – Communicate clearly
• October 2018 – Preparation
• November 2018 – Chunk the content and scaffold instruction
• December 2018 – Humanize the course

Communicate clearly

Many students report feeling lost and confused in online learning environments. Due to lack of synchronous and face-to-face contact, sometimes students are unclear on the expectations or need reassurance that they understand the expectations.

• Instructors need to provide detailed and very explicit instructions about the course format and how students can locate support, if needed.
• Instructors need to provide detailed and very explicit instructions about assignments, expectations, grading criteria and participation.
• Provide an ongoing forum or discussion section where students find answers to their questions.
• Provide and use rubrics that can be accessed ahead of the due dates. Also provide sample assignments that are easy to locate. Creating a short video tutorial explaining the rubric and assignment would give students a very concrete idea of the expectations. In other words, an “assignment tour” or “assignment overview”.
• A quiz tool can be utilized to ensure comprehension of course responsibilities as outlined in the syllabus. Students are allowed multiple attempts to take the quiz under low pressure, which ensures confidence when utilizing the quiz tool function. Use caution here, all too often instructors will update their syllabus from session to session yet fail to update the associated quiz. The goal with this type of quiz is to ease students into the course and allow for success on low stakes quizzes to build confidence.

-RG

Not all students do well in online courses. In fact, the statistics indicate that online courses have a much higher dropout rate compared to traditional face-to-face courses. The dropout rates in online courses tend to be 10 to 20 percent higher than in face-to-face courses. Institutional level factors like technical support, academic support, advising, and availability of resources can support student success in online courses. At the course level, there are many simple strategies and techniques that instructors can use to support students’ success in their online classes. 

There are many different topics to cover and best practices to share in this area of Online Courses and Student Success. In an effort to break the information up into smaller chunks, a different topic will be covered each month for the rest of the year. The complete 5-part series will be seen here:

• August 2018 – Organization and layout of the course
• September 2018 – Communicate clearly
• October 2018 – Preparation
• November 2018 – Chunk the content and scaffold instruction
• December 2018 – Humanize the course

Organization and layout of the course

As you might imagine, many students have reported dropping online courses because they are feeling overwhelmed and often frustrated with the amount of information that is presented. The way information is presented can make a big difference in retaining students. Students can experience “cognitive overload” if the information presented to them is not logically organized and the layout or course design is not easy to follow. Unfortunately, students may end up spending a lot of mental energy just trying to figure out how the course is organized and how to find information, and may end up feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. The design and layout of the course can minimize this frustration and help students focus on the content rather than on navigation issues. Ultimately the goal is to lower levels of anxiety as students enter a course. Here are a few things to consider:

• When possible, follow a course template that can be used for courses that students might be enrolled in at the same time. Or for courses that will be found in the same program. 
• Provide a simple and consistent layout and navigation for the course. Use the same layout for each module (for example, overview, objectives, readings, viewings, assignments).
• Make the effort to present some information visually  and some information verbally.
• Explain and show the structure and layout of the course by making a “course tour” video. Also consider “module tours” and “assignment tours” when appropriate.

-RG

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

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