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What can instructors and distant students do to minimize feelings of separation? When you are designing courses, what can you do to provide support to your online students? Here are some easy ways you can help your students feel more connected to your class.
As an online instructor, you should look to enabling technologies to help your students feel less distant from you as the teacher.
In online courses, I oftentimes create "teaching" moments with my students by doing some of the following:
In online courses, I oftentimes create "teaching" moments with my students by doing some of the following:
1) introduce topics in a class newsletter w/ video and/or audio
You can teach or "sell" new topics at the beginning of each week in a weekly class newsletter. Each week in my class newsletter, I present the topic, its relevance and how it fits in to the overall knowledge base for the course. A quick screencast with audio from Jing.com or AudioPal.com. You can make short videos using your webcam. Online avatars are even better. These little virtual characters can be customized to your likeness and will make students feel a little more comfortable and not so uptight about taking the class "all alone out there". Try building your avatar at Voki.com and see how your students like it.
2) use "storytelling forums"
Storytelling is a powerful way to present material along with real experiences. For instance, when I teach students about Internet fraud and identity theft in my computer class, I share my own experiences with attempted identity theft and how I handled it the situation. When I post these stories in the discussion forums, students usually reply with their own stories and advice for other students to prevent the experiences. Thus, students feel like they are connected with me in their learning experiences.
3) create "guided practices" by using annotations
When presenting resources such as PowerPoint slideshows or even Word documents, think about including annotations. You can use something as simple as text call-outs (http://www.trendingineducation.com/2015/06/easy-use-of-callouts.html) to get your explanation in. This personalizes the material so that it is not so cold.
4) create "highlight" lectures
I like to give my comments on the lectures which also allows me to sell the content thus motivating the students in their learning. This way they feel less alone in their learning. Do something other than PowerPoint than your lectures. Try some tools like VoiceThread.com or create a PechaKucha style (http://www.pechakucha.org/) presentation.
5) give detailed feedback on student assignments
This detailed communication becomes a conversation that I have with the student about his/her learning. You can also consider delivering your feedback in text messages, voice files or small annotations in AudioPal.com.
Additional Resources
7 Ways to Teach Your Online Students
10 Tips for Creating Engaging Class Newsletters
Cloud-Based Audio Tools
Sprucing Your Faculty Introductions
