Putting yourself in your students shoes and the key to solid online course facilitation

With the growing popularity of online courses, it’s important for instructors as they transition from on ground to online facilitation to understand aspects that truly create an engaging environment for the students in the digital world. Online classes are not extremely different than on ground. However, the interactions that take place are different, and facilitation should address a few key elements. The students will for sure feel supported and engaged and typically leave the class feeling as if they truly gained new knowledge as well as confidence. The first step for any instructor facilitating online course is to understand the students in today’s society and their diversity.

As instructors we get into a pattern and often forget what it was like to be a first time online student. We need to put ourselves in their shoes and realize that they are all different. We often become accustom to hearing excuses for late work, and why something cannot be done. This can make us as faculty rigid in how we deal with students causing the students to distance themselves from us as educators and the classroom environment.

One of the key elements we should incorporate is open communication with our students. Deal with them on an individual basis instead of lumping them in a group. It really takes pressure off of you as an instructor and the student. It is important to write to the students to get to know them. Keep in mind their background and diversity and be sure to address all the aspects that will encapsulate what the student might need in terms of feedback and support. A successful course is an active course, which simply means the course seems that it is active, and the instructor is engaging on a regular basis. Addressing all the needs of the students as well as supporting them, and using opportunities to expand upon the content of the course and use that content to teach the students. Another important element is to be encouraging. When offering feedback, but it’s also critical to give detailed feedback even if criticism so that the student can take away elements that will help them grow and learn more as they proceed through their online programs. You also want to use feedback methods that work with their individual needs and learning styles. A good way to relate to the students is to use a sense of humor and to talk to the students in a conversational style to help create a relationship with the students and hopefully bring them out of there shall that they might express some of those ideas that they may not in an on ground environment.

The main point of our jobs is to ensure that our students are getting the most out of our classes and knowing that as they move to their next class we have given them an experience that left a lasting good impression. To summarize the presentation we will focus on techniques applicable to the facilitation of online courses. Topics include:

• Making a powerful first impression as the class begins. This is a critical component in that it allows the professor to express their credentials and show their credibility to the students as well as begin a personal relationship with those students. The level of learning and collaboration will be much more fruitful if this occurs.
• Understanding what the students needs are so that the feedback can accommodate the various levels of skill, as well as the students diversity using technology or simply communicating online.
• Using media tools to create a more enriching experience for the online student in that media tools can bring voice and video to students creating a more personable feedback process and eliminate any unclear points that can commonly be made through the written word and lack clarity that media can offer.
• Infusing conversational style to feedback so that the readers feel as if they are being connected to personally and touch on the process for perhaps offering humor and fun in feedback to keep things light yet constructive.