Module 3: Encourage Contact Between Students and Faculty: Best Communication
By: Heather Farley, Ph.D.
College of Coastal Georgia
Introduction
In Module 3, we continue our exploration of Chickering and Gamson's principle for effective education as we look at Best Communication Practices to encourage contact between students and faculty.
Overview
Research suggests that participant interaction is a strong predictor of student success and course satisfaction in the online classroom (Arbaugh and Benbunan-Fich, 2007). Specifically, a correlation exists between learner-instructor and learner–system interaction which may significantly increase the perceived learning of the student in your classroom. According to Thurmond (2003, as cited in Dunlap et al.), "The effectiveness and quality of the instructor contributes more towards student satisfaction than technology. While quality instructor guidance and verbal directions are often non-existent in online courses (Evans & Champion, 2007), a learning community must exist to where students do not feel disconnected (Cornelius & Glasgow, 2007).” Pay special attention to the UDL principles provided for communicating with all students in your course.
References
Arbaugh, J.B., Benbunan-Fich, R. (2007). The importance of participant interaction in online environments. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2006.12.013
Cornelius, F., & Glasgow, M. E. S. (2007). The development and infrastructure needs required for success - one college's model: Online nursing education at Drexel University. TechTrends, 57(6), 32-35.
Dunlap, J. C, Sobel, D., & Sands, D. I. (2007). Supporting students' cognitive processing in online courses: Designing for deep and meaningful student-to-content interactions. TechTrends, 51(4), 20-31.
Evans, R., & Champion, I. (2007). Enhancing online delivery beyond PowerPoint. The Community College Enterprise, 13(2), 75-84.