Blog Assignment: Setting Up Effective Online Learning Experiences

Blog Assignment: Setting Up Effective Online Learning Experiences

What steps are most essential for setting up effective online learning experiences for adult learners? Explain why you believe this.

Our responsibility for setting up an effective learning experience is many. One of the best ways to start an online course on the right foot is to focus on social presence activities for both learners and faculty. Getting acquainted at the social level creates a trust and understanding for the environment it also helps with reaching out to the students so that they can freely express their ideas, beliefs and opinions. To follow with that we have to be careful when our new class begins, it is important to be clear succinct, and effective in your classroom. With that, instructors also have to consider presence, community, patience and clear expectations as an adjunct to their role in the classroom.

Why is it necessary to communicate clear expectations to online learners?

Each student comes to class with certain learning experiences, expectations, and needs that have to be addressed, and to which instructors need to be sensitive, to maximize the students’ learning experiences. However, because of the unknown make-up of online classes, the characteristics of online students may be unclear, making it difficult to develop effective online courses (Davidson, Nora, & Yaw). This notion is paramount in the online learning/instructional environment. How best can we reach out to the students so that they each know what is going on. One of the most effective ways I saw this done was via email. I had an instructor who seemingly went “overboard” with her expectations of the class. This was almost a portfolio of PDF files, MS Word docs, and images where she had typed up different topics and expectations from APA formatting, to plagiarism and copying, student rules, and even as far as dictating the font, size, and color and the use of underlining in our discussion post. She even had a rule to where we needed to title our fist post as “Name – Initial Post”. I had never experienced the level of fanatical expectations in this class before. It did take me a few weeks to adjust because I felt like I was making minuscule mistakes in my contributions as the rules, framework and expectations were almost akin to living under a dictatorship. It was relentless, but I also see the key advantages to letting your students understand your clear expectations of them in the online classroom.

What additional considerations should the instructor take into account when setting up an online learning experience, especially one that targets adult learning?

One important consideration that needs much focus is the participation of the students. With online learning, you can actually see who is participating, who is giving minimal effort, and who is doing more than what is required. Instructors are more able to use the LMS and the technology to make notes of each student. Especially when discussion boards contain time stamps, you will see who meets deadlines, and who ignores them. I think this is vital if you want to hold everyone to the same standard, and expectations of assignment work you already have a built-in system of checks and balances to assist your grading. Online teaching takes a lot of work; you just have to be ready for every situation with your students that appear. It can be even more difficult in the regard that you as an instructor need to juggle the technology, the students, the expectation, rubric, and syllabus to meet the demands of the course. Additionally, online classes are typically eight weeks; you will also need to manage your time well to fit all of these aspects of the course on your plate.

References

Davidson, M. M., Nora, R. T., & Yaw, D. C. (n.d.). The learning styles, expectations, and needs of online students. College Teaching - http://web.simmons.edu/~brady/CE/Reading%202.pdf, 185-189. Retrieved from The learning styles, expectations, and needs of online students: http://web.simmons.edu/~brady/CE/Reading%202.pdf