HUMANIZE
Humanizing is all about:
Being PRESENT with student,
SENSE the student needs &
KNOW your students.
In the online classroom, it's important to be present and connect with your students in a meaningful way. To do this, treat your students as individuals and aim to establish a personal connection with each one of them, just as you would in a face-to-face classroom. This will enable you to provide the necessary support to students who may be struggling.
Furthermore, always stay aware of who your students are and their opinions of your online class. This feedback can greatly help improve the overall online teaching experience. To facilitate this feedback, consider using interactive tools like AnswerGarden to encourage student participation.
By prioritizing human connection in the online classroom, we can foster a positive and effective learning environment for our students.
The above picture is a word cloud that we created in our Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning course. It includes 1-3 word responses from each of us instructors, describing what humanizing means to us. We created this word cloud using AnswerGarden, a free tool that I learned to use for creating interactive prompts on my Canvas pages. When students respond, they can also see their classmates' responses in the form of a word cloud. "This is a great way to integrate low-stake, anonymous formative assessments into your course." (Online Network of Educators)
REFLECTIONS
Started
New to everything!
When I first began the Humanizing course via @one, I was new to everything. As a new online instructor, I had no idea how to create a presence with my students and convey the feeling that I was more than just a person behind a computer screen. Soon enough, I learned that there are college, Title 5, and U.S. Department of Education guidelines that require online instructors to maintain regular, effective contact with their students. This includes substantive interaction in the online environment.
However, this requirement can be vague and leave instructors wondering what it means to truly engage with their students online. It became clear to me that simply uploading course materials online and expecting students to learn independently was not enough. As I progressed through the Humanizing course, I gained valuable insights and strategies to humanize my online teaching, and now strive to create a welcoming and engaging environment for my students to learn and succeed.
Meanwhile...
Hands on!
Getting hands-on with your online students is crucial to their success. As an online instructor, it's important to understand who your students are, their generation mix, why they have opted for online classes, what they struggle with, and what they expect from your online class. Gathering and analyzing this data is essential to building a strong online learning community.
A study conducted at The Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University analyzed 23 high-demand entry-level online courses at two community colleges. The results showed that the more engaged an online instructor was with their students, the higher their grades were.
Unlike face-to-face classes where human presence is automatic, instructors in online classes must constantly create interaction and connection with their students. Through my experience and research, I have learned the importance of staying actively involved with my online students to create a welcoming and engaging learning environment.
Excited!
Learn, Learn and learn!
One of the best parts of the Humanizing class was learning about the various tools available to enhance my online classes. There are many interesting tools that can help create an amazing online learning experience, such as video creation, which is an essential tool for humanizing an online class. Through this course, I have learned how to create different types of videos, make them accessible for all students, create storyboards, and much more. I am excited to work with these tools, learn more details, and improve the design of my online classes.
In addition, I am planning to establish learning partnerships that will support my online students and help them take ownership of their learning. For example, I am considering implementing a storytelling assessment to improve student engagement and foster meaningful student-to-student connections in my future online classes. The possibilities are endless, and I am eager to continue learning and exploring new ways to enhance the online learning experience for my students.
EXAMPLES
USING VIDEO TOOLS
Flipgrid is one of the powerful tools I've used in my online classes. It's an asynchronous video discussion platform that allows for the flexibility of time-shifted participation while still enhancing the discussion with rich human presence through video.
In my Introduction assignment, I created a video on the left introducing myself and inviting my students to do the same. This activity helped my students feel more connected to me as a person and to see and learn about their classmates. I also encouraged them to respond to at least one of their classmates' videos, which increased engagement and promoted student-student connection. This approach proved more effective than traditional discussion thread formats in easing students' stress on the first day of class.
In my humanizing class, I used Adobe Spark to create a video based on an interview I conducted with a person who has taken at least one fully online class at a college or university. Adobe Spark is a free digital storytelling suite that includes three tools: Video, Page, and Post. It's available as a web application and was incredibly user-friendly. This was my first attempt at using Adobe Spark, and I found it to be a fantastic tool for creating engaging content. By incorporating the interview into the video, I was able to share valuable insights from an online student's perspective, making the content more relevant and interesting to my class.
USING VIDEO TOOLS
Helpful Tips
The video on the left is one I created for a course that requires students to submit a large number of forms and documents, which I noticed were causing them to struggle. In response, I created this video to provide them with all the necessary details and tips they might need throughout the semester. Using the Adobe Spark web application, I was able to create an engaging and informative video that answered many of my students' questions at the beginning of the class.
My Course Homepage
This is also another example of a strategies I used to ensure my students feel welcomed and I convey my social presence better. This is picture is from one of my online courses home page starting in Spring semester. I have tried to embed images in my written announcements to make them more engaging and appealing.
I have created the graphics and bottoms using Canvas and Da Botton Factory web applications.
