Embedded Files
Community college students are more likely to come from underserved populations and are inclined to feelings of self-doubt in academic settings. When learning online, our students need to know they have an instructor who cares and is there to support them, and that they are part of a vibrant learning community. Effective online teachers mindfully cultivate their presence at the course level and one-on-one with students. These interactions foster a relationship based on trust, which is the foundation of a learning community.
Humanizing is being able to empathize with my students even behind the computer screen.
Reflections
Reflections
Past
Past
Present
Present
Future
Future
I have been teaching online classes for about 11 years through a variety of learning management systems. We are now using Canvas, which I feel allows us to humanize our courses more than ever before. As an instructor, I prided myself on being very involved with responding to student emails quickly, being active in the discussion boards, and providing prompt feedback. I created a welcome video a few days before I had my son (3 years ago!) and used it in all of my classes. That was the extent of my video creation.
Fast forward a few years...
I “heard” from other @ONE students in another class that this Humanizing Course was all about making videos. I was thinking “ugh, I don’t have time for that!” BUT...I knew I needed to enroll so that I could challenge myself professionally and add more instructor presence. After this 4 week course, I can confidently say that I am so glad that I did! I actually looked forward to making these videos and it was not as overwhelming as I had anticipated. Adobe Spark was a great tool we were introduced too. I also ventured to my faculty center on campus to record a video and upload into Spark. I then used another video program to pull it all together and created a much more engaging welcome video (see below). I now have the knowledge of Flipgrid, Adobe Spark tools, my own YouTube Channel, and editing the closed captioning for accessibility.
I am realizing more that it wasn’t instructor presence that I needed, rather it was social presence. The students need to see my face and know that I am just a person behind the screen who cares for them. The cognitive empathy piece really hit home for me as well. Students in online classes, in many cases, feel disconnected from the class. This @ONE course gave me a chance to change that. For this upcoming spring semester, I now have a new welcome video to share with my class. In addition, I plan to create quick impromptu videos to welcome a module, explain a concept, and make an announcement. I am looking forward to the students’ input. Finally, our faculty center is offering workshops on how to use Powtoons so I plan on attending that soon.
Examples
Examples
Welcome Letter/Email
Welcome Letter/Email
The first communication that the students receive from me is a welcome email, which is also an announcement posted in Canvas as an archive. I send this out about a week before the class begins. I send an abridged version of this letting the students know the course is available (a few days before the class officially begins). I also include links to all of the websites and the Home page area in Canvas here too (which may not be obvious in this google doc example to the left). How/when to get started, technical support resources, textbook information, and my embedded welcome video is included at the end.
Welcome Video
Welcome Video
As I noted in my reflections above, I was using a weak welcome video for all of my classes. Through the @ONE humanizing class I was able to create this short welcome video that introduces the students to me, the course, and a few main points to get started. Adobe Spark was used to create it, along with YouTube for the transcript and hosting, and Vegas Movie Studio for some additional editing. I am working on other short videos this semester to include in my content areas and to introduce a new module.
Student Voices
Student Voices
The assignment to record a student's perspective about online classes was enlightening for me. Not only was I able to use a new video tool (adobe spark), but I was also able to see the concerns students have with online classes, namely the lack of instructor and social presence. My goal this year is to interview a few students in my gerontology classes that are pursing the certificate and then create a short video to share with other students.
Peer Review
Peer Review
Prior to taking the @ONE courses, I only had an on-campus peer review assignment for their final papers. I have been wanting to implement this online. These classes finally gave me the courage to do it! The first opportunity for peer review using the Canvas tool was used in Fall 2018 for my Death and Dying interview paper assignment. The instructions are to the left of your screen. I would also like to implement this for all my online class final papers, but I am working on a few tweaks this semester.
The students who participated provided encouraging comments to further help the students finalize their papers. I also provided general feedback based on the peer responses and the actual instructions to guide them. This peer review was an important step for the students' success on this final summative assignment.
Google Sites
Report abuse