COVID-19 has upended normal social connections that develop between students and professors. We are missing the connections that develop through casual interactions in office hours,
This article is featured in the resource guide, Effective Online Teaching Strategies. Today, faculty are being asked to abruptly expand their teaching practices in ways
For the past three years, I have taught a social entrepreneurship course with a semester-long project called Climb Above Addiction. This social venture supports prevention
This article is featured in the resource guide, Effective Online Teaching Strategies. The transition to online teaching has been partially, if not completely, challenging for
Editor’s note: This article was featured on The Teaching Professor in December 2018. For more articles like this, learn more about a Teaching Professor membership.
This article is featured in the resource guide, Effective Online Teaching Strategies. When it comes to facilitating online classroom engagement, discussion boards are a great
This article is featured in the resource guide, Effective Online Teaching Strategies. I used to dread online discussions as much as many students do. However,
Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with approximately 300 faculty who have developed and taught their first online course. One of the
“I’m sorry to bother you, but…” was the opening line of every email I received in the first week of this semester. This line was usually followed by nothing that would actually bother me: a question about the week’s materials, a link to an interesting resource, a discussion about a potential research topic, and the like. This was all despite my many attempts to ensure that students did not feel like they were imposing whenever they contacted me: a pre-semester introductory email, a video welcoming them to the course, my biography and teaching philosophy, virtual office hours, and multiple reminders about my contact information. Yet, with all of my entreaties to reach out, I was still dealing with the real issues of isolation, fear, and frustration that results in students leaving their online courses. To combat these feelings, professors—myself included—have to deliberately, consistently, and relentlessly work to build student-faculty and student-student relationships in online courses.
Many faculty members express concern that discussion in their online courses is shallow or sparse. What is it that makes meaningful dialogue so elusive in online courses? Some practices in online course design and discussion facilitation can actually encourage superficial dialogue. Faculty grading and feedback that require too much formality of language can scare students into virtual silence, sticking to exactly what the text says or saying what they think the professor wants to hear. Focusing on lower-level writing issues, such as grammar, APA style, or academic language, takes students away from content issues toward format issues. Although faculty might expect students to use formal academic language in their essays and research papers, it is not ideal for discussion.
