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As mentioned in the “Online Courses” page, fostering social presence to promote scaffolding between peers requires some definitive course design strategies. But how can online instructors improve their own social presence and scaffold their students? Welk (2006) emphasizes that scaffolding in both face-to-face and online contexts is best applied when the instructor adopts the role as a facilitator. In other words, they should be viewed as the “guide on the side” rather than the “sage on the stage”.
Struggles with Online Facilitation
Struggles with Online Facilitation
Timely feedback from online instructors can be a hit or miss depending on the instructor. On MOOCs platforms where participant numbers are incredibly high, individual feedback can be virtually impossible (Cho et al., 2016). Without giving feedback, however, simply amounts to a “one-way information dump or broadcasting” (Suen, 2014). The MOOC would essentially be like the thousands of free how-to videos on Youtube and Khan Academy.
Scaffolding Strategies
Scaffolding Strategies
1) Monitor student progress and participation.
- If the student misses an assignment or has not been present in discussions, check in with them.
2) Encourage students to seek necessary help.
3) Post regular announcements to communicate expectations in interactive activities.
4) Participate in discussions by replying to students, summarizing discussions or asking students questions.
5) Recognize students’ contributions by thanking students for their contributions.
6) Provide regular feedback.
- Feedback provides students with opportunity to revise, correct or improve their learning.
(Cho et al., 2016; Cho & Summers, 2012)
Communicate
Communicate
Activities
Activities
7) Break down assessments.
- Instead of asking students to submit one final essay, scaffold steps by creating sub-tasks, such as submitting a literature review, completing an outline, writing a rough draft, etc.
8) Aligning Assessments
- Assign activities that are not necessarily a part of the summative assessments, but help scaffold more comprehensive understanding of their final task. For instance, provide a prompt that can guide collaborative discussion towards the topic of the summative assessments.
9) Provide examples of exemplary work or lacklustre work.
10) Chunking Instruction Material
- Separate long texts or videos into smaller components. Provide students with breaks that they can use to reflect, question, or ask for help.
11) Metacognition
- Assign reflections so students can learn to evaluate their own learning. Identifying one’s own strengths and weaknesses is critical to begin mastering course objectives without aid.
Scaffold Reflections with the Five Rs:
Scaffold Reflections with the Five Rs:
- Recalling
- Recapturing (capturing emotions, accomplishments, challenges)
- Relating (identifying connections with previous materials or experiences)
- Rationalizing (identifying patterns, creating meaning)
- Redirecting (thinking about the future)
(Huang, 2017; Shaw, 2019; Welk, 2006)
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