Does Online Education Neglect the Student/Faculty Relationship?AMANDA CRINKS & LIBBY REILLY

IntroQUESTION: Have you taught in traditional settings or just online?

What are the differences and challenges of both?

Purpose of presentation

“Provide online office hours as needed”

“The degree of course management must be balanced with the time and energy available and demands of the course structure. It is also dependent upon the age and experience of both the instructor and the learner.”

“It was clear that, althoughwell intended, asking the online instructor to be available, that is online,all the time was setting them up forfailure and frustration.”

“Also remember that most of

us have been out of school

for at least 10 years. Me, 25

years.”

Office Hours/Availability Strict office hoursTimely, clear, personalized communicationsUtilizing different media platforms

“I really enjoyed the discussion boards where the professors wanted your personal experience. When you have to quote from the book it is harder to relate.”

“There needs to be a better way to grade discussion boards. If a professor simply doesn’t like what you put then he can deduct points. Discussion boards are supposed to help generate conversation between the students and create a learning environment”

“ Professors should facilitate discussion and not have students recite the same answer in different ways. There is no real discussion. Don’t just ask what is the 14th amendment, also ask what it means to the individual and what different people in that era thought of it.”

“ I had a professor that asked us to place yourself in the time period. What would be your thoughts, feelings and opinions about what was transpiring? It was an amazing class!”

“ I think discussion boards need to be an open forum type thing where we can all comment/chat about and actually discussion a question instead of everyone basically writing the same answer 34 times”

Write your own discussion board or give an example of a discussion board question you have used in your class…

Discussion BoardGoodPersonal opinion/experienceProblem solvingGenerate lists

BadYes/NoPurely factualRight/wrong

“The goal is to empower the online learner to take responsibility for managing their own learning experience and free the instructor to concentrate their time and energy on crafting a truly engaged learning experience”

“…balance the expectations of learners …”

“Establish and communicate theetiquette expectations for thecourse exchanges. Also establish aprotocol for holding students accountable for adhering to the communications expectations”

“Reminding student[s] of the class expectations of conduct, participation, and the instructor‘s response to unanticipated problems”

“It is important to provide course goals, expectations, structure, and related course/departmental/institutionalpolicies at the beginning of the course.”

“Choose a conversational tone that makes students feel comfortable in the online learning environment andthat establishes trust in communication while building a learning community.”

CommunicationUsing mediums besides textbooks

Videos Case studies Additional readings

Managing expectations

Skype help

“It would be nice to get the syllabus early so that we could start reading the chapter and be ready for the first week of class”

“Could the writing center alternate weekends? By the time you get going it’s Friday and papers written on weekends have a slim chance of getting WC proofing then corrections by the deadline”

“How about consistency in APA standards. How can the same standard format be acceptable in one class and wrong in the other?”

“A class in APA formatting”

“Get the syllabus earlier so you can start reading”

Additional Student DesiresClear APA guidelines

Early access to syllabus

Extended hours for resources like the Success Center

Additional military accommodations Free extensions during missions

Student IDs and email addresses

Wrap Up