How can online educators effectively build relationships by encouraging safe communication and interactions in online & open learning spaces? What did you already know, what do you know now based on the course readings and activities, what do you hope to learn?
Due to the current state of events, online learning is extremely important in the daily lives of every student worldwide. Furthermore, advancements in online learning are occurring frequently in order to provide effective learning curriculum to students. However, many students dislike online learning and prefer learning in a classroom setting. Why is that? I strongly believe that when students are in a classroom setting, they build camaraderie among peers and their teachers. I remember when I was in grade 12 many moons ago, I was asking my favorite teacher, “would you teach a university class? You are a great teacher and you love kids and you will 300 students in your class”. And he replied, “Nav, I love teaching cause I know every student in my class and my students love attending my class cause they know me. They feel like they belong here and we overtime build friendship and trust”.
That stuck out to me and its something I feel like strongly applies to me. Attending class becomes a lot more fun when you are comfortable conversing with your teachers. However, via online classes, it can be hard to converse with your professors and peers as for starters you cannot make eye contact with them, which is crucial during conversing. So how can online educators effectively build relationships by encouraging safe communication and interactions in online & open learning spaces? There are many possibilities for achieving this. My first idea would be via hosting zoom formal sessions that solely around having conversations. Imagine having a zoom call at 7 pm where any student can join and discuss anything they want to and it does not have to related to school at all. Being in online school really impacts your social life negatively as you cannot see your friends, therefore, hosting zoom calls to just chat would be very beneficial in making students feel welcomed, positively affect their mood, and build friendly relationships with their peers and teachers. Furthermore, zoom has been very promising as an online video call platform, being able to have numerous people in a call, switching screens to highlight the speaker, and so on. Furthermore, teachers can also have fun assignments such as solving puzzles or writing collaborative stories in a group. This would promote friendship building among students, encourage everyone to contribute while giving students the freedom to choose their topic. Regarding safety, I strongly feel like having protocols in place assures students that they are protective and will not be harmed/abused in any way. For example, teachers can record zoom chat and analyze it as a way of seeing no bullying or harassment is taking place. Knowing that zoom chat is being recorded will assure students that they are protected from any bullying that may take place. However, how open students are in class greatly depends on the instructor. Thus, it’s very important that instructors put in the effort to make students feel welcomed and make the effort in regard to knowing their students. The efforts can be as small as simple hello and asking for their name or as big as sending a private email asking about their week and their endeavors.
Encouraging safe communication and interactions are greatly impacted by the instructions laid out of for a task/assignment and the course. Human-Centered Instruction article (n.d.) brings up the importance of instructional design. I strongly believe that a strong and well laid out instructional design can help students accomplish educational goals and desired grades with minimal stress. Reduce of stress can make students enjoy the course more, which results in higher levels of participation in class and interactions among peers. Based on my personal experience, I always have been highly motivated to attend and participate in a class where the instructions for the assignment and outline of the course are well explained. It lowers my stress and does not make me think things like “what do I need to do” or “I wonder if others are as lost as I am”, but instead, I am focused on what I am learning and enjoy what I am learning. Furthermore, well-laid instructions can also make an assignment seem simple/manageable, making the class more appealing.
When reading the assigned reading, teaching online, I was very intrigued by Margaret Soltan’s input. Online learning can be a great way of making new connections and encouraging students to communicate and make safe interaction in an online classroom. However, flexibility is needed in any classroom and conversation. Knowing that what is working and what is not working can impact the involvement of students in a class. During a typical classroom setting, most students know what to expect but we are now living in a strange time where things are changing constantly, including learning and how we learn. Therefore, instructors should “change [instructions] for the benefit of students” (Soltan, 2015) when students are struggling or failing to understand a task/assignment. I never thought of this and something new I learned from the weekly readings but it makes so much sense. An instructor’s effort to change materials of the course to provide effective learning is greatly appreciated by all students and can benefit students to achieve their educational goals from that course. Furthermore, changing the course outline to help and benefit the students can impact the participation of the students within the course positively.
Ultimately, hosting game sessions or casual chat zoom cools, having safety protocols, properly laid out instructions, and flexibility/ability to change course outline to benefit the students can make an online classroom into a healthy community where students feel motivated and encouraged to participate. However, instructors play a major role in implementing these things and building a community. Thus, for encouraging students to have safe communications and interactions in online learning, instructors should provide students the ability, ideas, methods, and times to communicate and interact. Then, slowly instructors should consider making adjustments to benefit the student.
I am a strong supporter of online learning and see it has more convenient and superior teaching as well as learning method compared to the traditional in-classroom learning. However, environments can impact one’s learning. I hope to learn which environment setting promote learning in an online classroom setup.
Reference:
Howell Major, C. (2015). Teaching Online – A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice. (Chapter 1). Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=3318874
What is Human-Centered Instruction? https://www.leadsv.com/hcn
Very insightful, Nav! I couldn’t agree more with what your teacher had told you with preferring to teach a class of 30 students versus a class size of 300. Being in a classroom in person, with a small class size, I have always felt that my input was heard and valued because I received more individual attention. Whereas, in larger classrooms, it is rare if I do speak up unless I have a burning question. I think it is because I feel more hidden and assume the fact that the teacher will never know my name (or doesn’t care – which I know is absurd to feel and I know is not true but it is the feeling I get), taking away the personalization. I wonder if it is similar to online learning?
I never thought about the class materials as having an impact on participation, but it makes a lot of sense now that I think of it! I can see how changing the materials or the way materials are presented to suit their needs, can improve a students self worth and confidence which in turn can have a huge impact on participation. This is a great blog post, Nav!
Hey Nav thank you for sharing! I think having zoom calls where students can talk with their friends and teachers is a great idea. In June I did this with my Kindergarten class as they were really missing their friends and I learnt so much about them and their families. I would also do little games throughout. For example, I would ask them to go find 5 special items in their home and tell us about them! I also think being able to be flexible is important in a classroom and online. Each year I get a new group of students that have different interests, skills and challenges. We have to be okay with changing our plans and lessons to meet the needs and interests of our learners.
Hey Nav, thanks for your input on this topic! You had a lot of really good things to say about the benefits of being taught in a classroom versus being taught over zoom call. I agree that online schooling is taking away from students university experience as they cannot connect face to face with their classmates over zoom as easily. I really liked all of the examples of ways teachers could influence safe communication between students and I think some of your suggestions should be taken into consideration by some teachers. I agree that influencing students to get out of their comfort zone over a zoom call and getting to know their peers online would be probably the most effective way of getting them to communicate through these confusing times.