Humanizing online learning to build relationships in an online classroom: Reflection post incorporating week 1/2 and week 3 readings
We all can agree that learning primarily revolves around the student however, due to the current state of events, learning has acquired a whole new persona and definition. Most university students, like myself, are adjusting to online learning. Some enjoy it and some hate it. I love online learning and the convenience that comes along with it. Upon learning virtually for over a month, I can wholeheartedly agree with Barnes (201) that “online learning is flourishing […] because of the myriad of options and flexibility it offers to both traditional and adult learners, faculty, and the institutions”. Furthermore, from the last week’s reading, teaching online, Margaret Solton’s input that learning whether online or in-person “should be for the benefit of the students” (2015).
Something I have been hearing for my peers is that due to online learning, professors have made material harder. At the beginning of the semester, I was very excited and enjoyed my lectures but as time went on, I started becoming very bored during my lectures. I had a quiz about 2.5 weeks ago for my Latin 101 introductory class, and it was open book, 10 questions, and 10 mins. I took the quiz and I got 60%, and I was quite upset. I emailed my professor and in the next lecture, he mentioned that many people felt anxiety during the quiz and wished there was more time. Our professor then decided to drop our lowest quiz grade and give us 15 mins on future quizzes. Since then, I have been more attentive in my Latin lecture and enjoying my learning. The reason I am bringing this story up is that when I was reflecting on my past month and trying to make connections with the readings from this course so far, it dawned on me that what my professor did and my actions following his decision, directly support the benefits of thorough instructional design stated in Human-Centered instruction article (n.d.); my professor altering the grade book made me appreciate the lectures, my instructor, and I felt excited about my learning. Also, I began to pay more attention to the class and the material. Furthermore, the actions of my professors are inline with Solton’s statement that learning should be beneficial for the students, and in this case, giving us additional time and allowing us to drop our lowest grade is beneficial to us (students) as it doesn’t negatively impact our grade or increase anxiety while taking a quiz.
At times, online learning does make it difficult to create connections and relationships with classmates. Barnes (201) states that “a strong community is imperative in higher education learning and helps reduce feelings of isolation in online learning”. As an extrovert, it becomes challenging for me to continue paying attention to a screen listening to my professor explain the fundamentals of polymer chemistry, while all I wish to do is converse with someone, share my opinions on the topic, and feel involved in my learning. However, there is no one around me to converse with and it began creating a sense of isolation in me. Using my Latin class to convey my point again, currently, we are learning the declension of nouns. As most of you know, Latin is a dead language, and studying a dead language can be quite boring. So to make sure the students are not being bored and enjoying their learning, our professor does this:
Chanting the declension together as a class creates a new energy in the call and makes everyone active. Personally, chanting the declension makes me feel like I am in a classroom and am answering questions asked by my professor. Furthermore, going over declensions as a class has created a form of camaraderie. However, even then, I felt lonely during my lecture. So to tackle that, I made a discord group and shared it with my peers. There are about 15 students in my discord group and we all talk about our day and help each other with homework. Off-topic, but to further promote students to build connections virtually, I have also created a social club that is ratified by UVSS, “F & S Club” which is short for “Friendships and Support Club”. The most interesting thing is that going over declension by chanting them was the idea of a student to make others feel involved.
In summary, I use these two stories to reflect on my readings and connect them with my learning, to convey my point that virtual learning is just as effective as in-class learning. And due to how it is set up, it’s okay and normal to feel out of touch or isolated during your online classes. But that can happen with any lecture whether online or in person. The way to tackle isolation during learning is to participate. Doing the chants with my peers makes me motivated to join every lecture for my Latin class as it has made the material fun and entertaining. Furthermore, students should realize that instructors are there to help and during these odd times, they are also struggling in some ways to make sure everyone feels involved and oftentimes, suggestions like chanting the declension together, are not only beneficial for the students but also for the instructors, as my professor taking the suggestion of going over declension together has made me feel more involved in this teaching as well. Dr. Roberts told me that learning is all about taking risks and that’s what online learning is all about, taking risks. Virtual learning can be fun, entertaining, and enjoyable, we just have to take that step and put in the effort.
Moving Forward:
Going over my readings from this course has allowed me to appreciate my learning and have a new perspective on my school life. I can reflect on the two aforementioned incidents from my Latin class and realize how they are evident in what I am reading regarding humanizing online learning and creating relationships in an online classroom. In Dr. DeWaard’s webinar, she mentioned that engagement, representation, and action & expression, are essential for becoming expert learners. Upon reflection, I can state that online learning allowed me to engage in the classroom and allowed me to express myself and convey actions associated with my learning, through chanting declensions, doing presentations for my chemistry labs, and allowing me to pursue my passion of creating a UVSS club. Although, something I wish to discover more and soon is how online learning will allow me to represent myself.
References:
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
Barnes, C.L. (201). Where’s the Teacher ? Defining the Role of Instructor Presence in Social Presence and Cognition in Online Education. Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from https://humanmooc.pressbooks.com/chapter/wheres-the-teacher-defining-the-role-of-instructor-presence-in-social-presence-and-cognition-in-online-education/
All Images were obtained from www.usplash.com
I really enjoyed reading what you had to bring to this discussion! I agree with ouo by saying there is a lot more flexibility and there are a variety of ways that online teaching can be done. Giving students the time to dissect their own work and schedule it as they wish is unlike going to any school. In my experiences I have found that online schooling is very dense, it requires minimal effort at times and can be hard to keep track of. At times being in class would make me pay attention a lot better than being at home with my family and being around other distractions. Not everyone has access to a quiet learning/study space and that needs to be kept in mind by all instructors. Being in class and being present makes you value your time in class I find. With my online classes I can turn on my laptop and ignore a whole lecture if I want, whereas in a class it is somewhat hard to stay off topic for the whole lecture (or at least I would feel guilty by doing it). Getting students to participate more has been proven as an effective way to get them to educate themselves better. I look back on the classes I have taken so far in my schooling and I think that some of them would be more effective if they were offered strictly online. Some of them you can thoroughly understand the concepts/readings easily and would almost be better if they were offered online. I believe that if our older society was to take school completely online at this point they would crash and burn as some of them are not as technologically intelligent as we now are. With that being said we are learning to adapt to this crazy situation and how to keep on top of our work loads. Focusing on a thorough learning design is key for executing online teaching, so it is important for both teachers and students to cooperate during these confusing times.
You hit on some really good points, Nav. It is clear that you are a big fan of online learning and I liked how you incorporated both positive and negative factors around learning online. I agree that the design of a classroom is a crucial part of teaching and I would think that with online teaching there may be some gaps in terms of seeing students expressions in class to judge their understanding. It might be beneficial more than ever for teachers to receive feedback in an online setting. Like regular in-person classes how at the end of the semester, students give feedback for each of the classes they took. Perhaps with online learning, to better gauge how students are learning and connecting in the class, teachers can ask for feedback throughout the course. This way, it might make it feel more personal to the students and help the problem of online learning feeling “teacher-less”, as one of the articles stated. I agree, that online learning provides so many more opportunities that in-person teaching does not, with the software being developed and flexibility of learning anywhere with a stable internet connection. Great progress has been made, and of course there is still a ways to go to suit the needs of every student to learn online. Great blog, Nav!
Hey Nav, I really enjoyed reading your post. I like how you discussed the benefits of online learning and connected it to last week’s readings. I agree with you that learning should be student centred and flexible. All students learn differently thus it is important that we provide them with options and allow students to display their learning in different formats. I agree with holding virtual sessions for students to connect with their peers as this builds community and helps build meaningful connections. Some things to consider when hosting virtual meetings are; creating team building activities, talking prompts for the younger students to help them ask questions, and finding a time that works for everyone. I think it is important to reflect as educators and ask for feedback throughout the term. This is especially important in an online setting as it is harder to judge how our students are doing. Google forms are a great way to receive feedback! In june I asked parents and students for feedback every 2 weeks as it was new and I wanted to make sure that I was not overwhelming parents. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!