Reel-in Your Online Stragglers
Posted by: Arturo Ozuna, Instructional Designer
Arturo here with a tip for all you online instructors. As busy as we all are, it is important to remember how busy our students are as well. In my case, I worked two and sometimes three jobs throughout my college years. It was very easy for me to forget school assignments or run into situations where school had to be on the back burner. I wanted to do well in school but at times during the semester, I couldn’t devote myself fully to my studies. I rarely received a note or any type of communication from my professors regarding my various slipups.
Now that I am teaching online, I always have four or five students every semester that just disappear after a few of weeks or so. Normally I will wait a week to see if they reengage. If not, I send them an email reminding them that the class is still in session and I do notice when they are not participating in the learning process. I have had wonderful success reeling them back in.
Of course, one or two are never heard from again. However, I am surprised by how many respond and thank me for caring enough to contact them personally. Many of them, as I suspected, are dealing with a variety of responsibilities that make attending to their studies difficult. Often, they tell me that they feel bad for not participating in their classes and consider dropping the course as an alternative to communicating their situation to instructors. So I urge you not to give up on your stragglers if they fall off the face of the earth for a few days. Send them reminders that you are engaged and present in your online course. They will be very appreciative for the communication.
Do something!
So, the Christmas trees are on display, radio stations are starting to pipe the Christmas tunes…the holiday season, whether we want it or not, is arriving. I am always a little irked when the decorations go up in October but, by mid-November, I am ready to start feeling a little jolly. So, consider me jolly.
I walked by the West Library’s entrance this week and saw the Meals on Wheels donations Christmas tree. It’s sobering. We forget about others, don’t we? We forget that what will truly make someone’s Christmas this year is a pair of gloves or a warm scarf…and the thought that someone actually cared enough to give them something.
So, please, I beg you…give and give generously to the Meals on Wheels program through the West Library’s program. Go to the Library and pick up some stars (each star represents someone’s need; e.g., Jane needs a warm blanket). It doesn’t take much to make a difference…so GO…make a difference.
Jolly thoughts from Amy (Dr. C)
Coffee cup insights
The following question was posed on a Starbucks coffee cup:
At first, I wondered…what if young people saw themselves in that way? The thing is…this generation of students often DOES see itself in this way. Research indicates that young people are more engaged politically and socially than previous generations.
We mistake young people’s variable voting rates as a lack of civic involvement, but we fail to see their high rates of community volunteerism (In 2006, 16- to 19-year-olds spent twice as much time volunteering as did the same age group in 1989. Source: Corporation for National and Community Service). We mistake their time spent in social networking as frivolity and waste, but we fail to see the powerful and informational communities young people create to help solve problems (think of how Twitter united people from all over the world on behalf of human rights in Iran; see the Time article on this). We mistake their close relationships with their parents as co-dependence, but we fail to see the social capital that young people have built.
I think Don Tapscott said it best: “I’m optimistic that this generation will make this world a better place. The reason is simple: not only is this a generation that cares about social problems, they are the first to grow up with a powerful tool that can be used to make a far more substantial difference than my generation ever could. It’s a tool of unprecendented power to inform, engage, and mobilize their generation.” (Don Tapscott, in Grown Up Digital, p. 270)
So, it seems to me that the real question is: What if we saw young people in that way, as community leaders, problem-solvers, mentors, and key stakeholders?
Let’s discuss…
One of the new CETL members
Posted by: Arturo Ozuna, Instructional Designer
First, let me start be saying that I am so excited to be a part of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) for Texas Wesleyan University as an Instructional Designer. I look forward to my role in helping faculty members develop effective online courses. In addition, I plan to develop tools, resources, and training materials that will assist both veteran and new online faculty members.
Effective online instruction is similar to effective face-to-face instruction. The only real difference is the communication medium through which the learning takes place. It starts with clearly establishing what you expect from students and what students should expect from the instructor in relation to the course. These expectations can be stated in the form of policies or by providing resources such as rubrics for writing or professional conduct and can reside in several places including the syllabus or orientation resources.
In addition to clearly establishing expectations, the instructor should also work to create a learning community. We are in the information age, where the experience and knowledge of many is greater than that of one single person. Effective online instructors should tap into that collective knowledge regularly to gain the perspective of everyone in the class. Establishing a learning community engages students and allows them to directly relate the material they are learning to their own lives. Student-to-student communication and collaboration is vital to the process. Provide them with the opportunity to work together to solve complex issues or put them in scenarios with some guidance. As long as you are providing feedback, they are learning how to apply the knowledge they have gained.
Establishing a learning community also lends itself well to an active learning environment. I am a proponent of active learning as an instructional mode. Let me give you an example. I am not a big supporter of giving any kind of assessment of “key terms”. I would prefer creating assignments that directly relate to current events or realistic scenarios where students will need to know what the terms are in order to complete the assignments. Not only will they need to know the terms, they will also need to know why they are important. In the end, they will know all of these concepts because they have used them to accomplish something; in essence they were “active.” A lecture could never accomplish that. That is what active learning is; less lecture and more engaging activities and discussions where knowledge is constructed.
If you are interested in distance education or would like some assistance with your online course, please feel free to contact me at aozuna@txwes.edu. I will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have regarding distance education, curriculum development, and the online environment.
“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”
A few years ago, my boyfriend (now my husband) demanded that I watch Casablanca. I begrudgingly obliged, only to learn that Casablanca truly is a great movie. Further, I venture that Casablanca provides life lessons that extend beyond the film reels…or…DVD player.
So when I began thinking about the first post on this blog, the monumental and burdensome FIRST blog post, my thoughts returned to an exchange between lovers Rick and Isla in Casablanca:
Isla: Can I tell you a story, Rick?
Rick: Has it got a wild finish?
Isla: I don’t know the finish yet.
Rick: Well, go on. Tell it – maybe one will come to you as you go along
Living in a world of IT and Academics, where assessment, strategic planning, and evaluation govern our every move, I often remember this exchange. Maybe, just maybe, if I keep plugging along, the finish will become clear to me. Or maybe I should wait to tell the story until I can define the finish.
I will tell you now, this blog represents the former assertion, rather than the latter.
I am the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and I have the immense task of working to improve teaching and learning at Texas Wesleyan University through a variety of projects and initiatives. Some paths, some projects, some initiatives toward this end are clear. They are strategic (and, yes, I have written them in my requisite Strategic Plan*). But some are purely conjecture, trials, experiments. *Note: please don’t read my comments regarding Strategic Planning as negative. Strategic Plans are immensely helpful in setting goals, moving intentionally towards those goals, and assessing our success in those endeavors.
So, off we go on this adventure, to use this blog to share ideas, communicate with each other and others outside of Texas Wesleyan, and discuss issues in academe…and I hope that you all will join in this effort. Look for blog posts from all CETL employees; we will discuss academic/technology news, provide tips and tricks to help you with your jobs, and communicate news.
I look forward to your interaction, your feedback…
“Here’s looking at you, kid.”
Amy Collier
Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Texas Wesleyan University
