Getting to Know Your Online Students

The following is a guest blog post by Beth Knuth. Beth is one of our online eLo Web Design instructors along with being a business teacher (@nvhsbusiness) at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, IL. In this post, Beth shares five tips for teachers to follow in order to get to know your students in a virtual environment.

I started teaching online courses about 8 years ago. It started with a summer Consumer Economics course in which I met with the students once at the beginning of the summer to give them a brief orientation. After this point, I never saw their faces again! It was almost as I was teaching a class of invisible people. I would get emails and submissions now and then, but there was nothing behind the name. I struggled as a teacher not getting to know my class, especially since interacting with students is one of my favorite parts of teaching!

As the years went by, online classes evolved and went from basic dropbox submissions to discussion boards, video chats, and virtual discussions. Students names on my roster turned into pictures of faces (which was great!) and we as online teachers were provided with more ways to communicate with students. Along with this evolution of technology, I found more ways to interact with my class which in turn gave me a renewed interest in teaching online courses.

Here are a few ways that I have gotten to know my students online. This list is not all-encompassing, but highlights a few strategies that I have found helpful! I would love to hear any strategies that other online teachers have used.

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• Instead of diving into the curriculum immediately, do some sort of virtual “ice-breaker” activity to make the students interact with the instructor and fellow students. In my Web Design class this year I had the students make a brief website about themselves using the free and easy to use website weebly.com. Students created 3 pages about themselves incorporating pictures and interactive links to their favorite websites, movies, hobbies, etc. You could do this activity for any course, it just happened to fit in nicely with my curriculum! The important thing here is to make part of the assignment for students to respond to at least two other students in class in which they have something in common. This gets students interacting and finding commonalities. Don’t forget to make a website about yourself as the instructor to post for students - they want to get to know you too! 

• Make it a rule as an instructor to post an announcement at least every other day, if not every day. Students want to know you are out there! In addition to eLo, I also am an adjunct instructor through National Louis University in which I teach an Online Communications course. I will feature “Super Star” students in my announcements and tell their classmates what made their submission so spectacular. I direct students to this star student’s discussion post submission which often spurs more interaction between students. As an added bonus, the featured student feels really special that you recognized their work! 

• Speaking of discussion boards...be active in them! Reply to student posts and relate to what they are saying using specific examples from your own life and experiences. Student discussions become richer in language when they know their teacher is participating, and it is an additional way to connect with students. Sure this may take a little time, but if you can plan discussions around other assignments you won’t feel overwhelmed with grading. 

• Don’t be afraid to send positive individualized emails to students when they are working hard! Often as teachers we are busy reaching out to the students that are struggling, but it is just as important to reach out to the students that are doing well. This builds great rapport between students and teachers. 

• The most obvious part of connecting with students is face-to-face. With technology we are able to do this through video chats and conferences. However, not all of us have the luxury of using this technology on a regular basis. (In my case, with a 3-year-old at home, it is rare to have a serious conversation with any adult let alone with a student!) Instead, don’t be afraid to meet with the student one-on-one in a school setting if needed or if video chats are out of the question. I have traveled during my eLo time to various schools in the Consortium to meet with students that need a little extra encouragement or guidance. Sometimes it’s the extra nudge that really helps a student to succeed! 

Overall, connecting and building relationships with students in an online environment is a bit more challenging, but definitely not impossible. Through a variety of strategies you can get to know your students just as well, if not better, than your face-to-face classes! Please share any other ideas you have used as an online teacher with a response to my post.

Follow Beth K @nvhsbusiness

Expand Empathy

Driving home a few weeks back I came to the corner of Manheim and Roosevelt in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. I was in the right-hand turning lane, one car back and the light was red. While waiting for the light to turn green or the car in front of me to turn right, the man in the car suddenly opened his door and got out.

The man proceeded to walk about ten feet in front of his car. I noticed him bend over to grab something. He walked back to his car and had what appeared to be a giant metal spike in his hand. (The kind that is used for heavy construction work.)

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The man wasn't dressed in construction clothes along with his car displaying an out-of-state plate. Therefore, I assume this man was simply "paying it forward." At first, I was a bit impatient because this man was not turning right but chose to use the right hand turning lane. However, after learning why this man wasn't immediately turning he forced me to reflect.

This man reminded me the critical importance of being cognitive for those around you even if they are complete strangers. That spike very well may have punctured a hole in one of my tires or another car passing by. The empathy of the man to think of others and proactively take action was simply exceptional.

While finishing my drive home, I couldn't help but continue to reflect on this man's actions and connecting them to the state of education. How may we better practice empathy with our students? How may we be more cognitive toward our student needs ensuring we meet them with where he/she are at on his/her academic journey?

One action we may begin taking is providing our students with the instructional approach, which maximizes each student's learning preference.

• Student A might learn best in a traditional face to face environment
• Student B might learn best in a blended instructional environment
• Student C might learn best in an online learning environment
• Student D might not know which learning environment he/she learns best but wants to experience all three

Nonetheless, it is our responsibility to ensure each student has ownership of how they learn. It would have been very easy for the man to remain in his car and not pick-up the spike. It would be very easy for us to teach the same way to students. However, we know each student learns differently and so we teach differently.

Similar to students, perhaps some teachers thrive more in an online environment compared to a face to face environment. We need to be empathetic to the needs of our teachers similar to the needs of our students. Teachers should have opportunities to maximize his/her skill sets in their preferred instructional environment.

Thank-you to the man for reminding me to be cognitive of my surroundings. Thank-you to the man for reminding me to take actions which might not always be easy but will bring value to others.

In closing, the three districts part of the Expanding Learning Opportunities Consortium (eLo) are taking more steps to be empathetic to the needs of their students. Whether authentic project-based learning activities in the classroom, blended learning programs, or virtual learning opportunities through eLo, each district is putting more students in the driver's seat. In addition, by training teachers to learn how to blend instruction, lead an online class, or have more options for the environment they teach, they are in turn raising the level of expectation for students.

There is no time to rest and plenty of more work to do. We must continually reflect and provide our students more opportunities to learn based on their unique DNA. We must be more empathetic like the man making self-less decisions for the good of the cause. We must continually work together to ensure we aren't putting unnecessary layers of obstacles, such as these spikes, in the way of our student learning. We must continue to remove the obstacles and let our students take control over their learning in whichever environment that might be.

For more information about the Expanding Learning Opportunities Consortium (eLo), consider checking out our website. www.eloconsortium.org.