I'm one of the many teachers who came to the online space after many years of working face-to-face. I taught face-to-face for about 10 years before I started teaching courses that were blended and subsequently 100% online. As a classroom teacher, I always knew that my job was to -
1) present the subject matter for students to learn (in my case it was computers, mathematics and business courses) AND
2) motivate students to invest in the course enough to succeed.
In the online environment, I find that while GOAL #1 is always there (impart the information to students), it's GOAL #2 that sometimes is more of a challenge. So, in this post, I'm going to
compare how I used to motivate my students in the face-to-face classroom versus how I motivate my students in the online classroom. (*Note: This was an interesting exercise for me and I definitely recommend this little exercise to other teachers who have a similar experience.)
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| Pixabay.com |
I'm one of the many teachers who came to the online space after many years of working face-to-face. I taught face-to-face for about 10 years before I started teaching courses that were blended and subsequently 100% online. As a classroom teacher, I always knew that my job was to -
1) present the subject matter for students to learn (in my case it was computers, mathematics and business courses) AND
2) motivate students to invest in the course enough to succeed.
In the online environment, I find that while GOAL #1 is always there (impart the information to students), it's GOAL #2 that sometimes is more of a challenge. So, in this post, I'm going to
compare how I used to motivate my students in the face-to-face classroom versus how I motivate my students in the online classroom. (*Note: This was an interesting exercise for me and I definitely recommend this little exercise to other teachers who have a similar experience.)
| Face-to-Face Interaction | Online Interaction |
| Ask students during a lecture whether they understand | Quick polls, collaboration forums |
| Adapt course material based on students' reactions to material | Discussion forums, adjust frequency of posts/replies |
| Encourage students before taking a test | Online pre-tests, quick polls on the test topics |
| Support students in preparing a final project | Collaboration forums, pre-recorded video messages on specific topics |
| Provide advice and guidance to student teams | video conferencing, short instructional videos to give advice |
| Give a pat on the back to students who fall behind. | emails, audio messages, videos |
| Provide extra support to students who are failing. | emails, audio messages, videos, IM chats, screen sharing, collaboration forums |
| Encourage students to achieve a better grade. | emails, IM chats, collaboration forums |
Face-to-face interaction by nature is indeed different than online interaction. Students online have different needs that have to be taken into account. As teachers (and developers) in online environments, we have to build "opportunities of interaction into our courses".
It's not as easy as it may seem. How do you motivate your students online? What "opportunities of interaction" do you offer for your students? I'd love to hear from you.
