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Educator's Voice

Volume 5, Issue 2
February 11, 2004

"High Touch" in a "High Tech" World: Strategies for Individualizing Online Learning

Over the last several years, I have had the luxury of conversing with countless online instructors regarding "what works" in online education. To my surprise, I have found that many, if not most, conversations have centered on "the best way to create highly attractive visual presentations." The focus often seems to be on teaching as information distribution, and on motivating students by offering some "sizzle" in their presentations - employing cute animated gifs, blinking letters, animated simulations of processes such as swallowing reminiscent of Alka Seltzer commercials, etc.

I don't have a problem with the notion of creating visually exciting presentations. However, I am somewhat surprised that there is so much concern about presentations, because in conversations with many of the most successful experienced online teachers, I find a very different focus. More often than not, we talk about the relationships they have with their students - and their strategies for engaging their students from the individual learner's point of view. These instructors have concern about the visual aspects of their courses like most, but much of their energy clearly is invested in what I would call "high touch mentoring."

When one takes a look at the most successful online teachers - i.e., those who obtain high student participation, high learning outcomes, and apparently high rates of student satisfaction, one finds that they demonstrate a very rich, active, respectful and responsive style of communication. More specifically, these "superior" online mentors often engage in one or more of the following kinds of actions or strategies:

• They provide a safe climate. They recognize that many anxious new online learners need some reassurance. Early and often, they let students know that there are numerous supports available to assist them - including the Orientation Course, the Help Notes, the 24x7 Help Desk, and their peers and the teacher. Most of all, they explicitly assure students that it is okay to ask for help, to trust them, and to trust that they will be very available and accessible - in the course, and/or by email, and/or by phone or in person.
  
  
• They invite input regarding the goals and agenda of the course. While they are mindful of the fact that they are content experts with clear ideas as to what students need, they also realize that learners often benefit from content that matches their individual academic and personal goals. These instructors also comfortably allow their students some measure of independence and control over their learning.
  
  
• They provide much individualized feedback - through email, in threaded discussions, as well as various other course communication tools. Knowing that learners will be gratified by and work harder for a teacher who cares about them, they give their students lots of positive messages about what they are doing well. They also offer constructive criticism when called for, provide models of good performance, and recommend links to resources for enhancing understanding of subject matter and/or to enable students to pursue material related to individual interests.
  
  
• They connect learners with one another. They appreciate that in interactive and collaborative learning situations, individuals have an opportunity to gain perspective and think reflectively, and this often produces higher levels of cognition as well as self-esteem. In turn, they fully employ threaded discussions and various collaborative assignments, as they foster much peer-peer interaction.

So, what am I driving at here?

Well, it comes down to this: In this "High Tech" world of ours, becoming more "High Touch" in communicating with the individuals who make up your class will probably lead to higher levels of achievement and satisfaction for your students. It will probably pay off for you as well.

       --Edward H. Ladon, PhD
       edl@eCollege.com

This article originally ran in April of 2002, but the concepts are more important than ever.

TIP

"Taming" the Unruly Syllabus

There is no doubt that having a good syllabus is an important part of running a successful class. And of course, a good syllabus has many components--course overview, objectives, assigned textbooks, policies and procedures, grading rubric, course schedule, instructor contact information, and the list goes on.

When creating a syllabus for an online course, we also add information for directing students to appropriate technical help, student orientation courses, and tips and tricks for how to use the eCollege System.

When all is said and done, after all of this content has been added to the syllabus, what happens? It can get pretty long, and that can look overwhelming to students. You (and your students) may not be able to find what you're looking for without sifting through a lot of material. It's all in there, but it's a bit unruly.

Here are some ideas to help tame the long, sometimes unruly, syllabus.

Step 1: Break it up! This doesn't mean scattering your syllabus content to various places throughout your course or duplicating syllabus content throughout (although some strategic, redundant information can be helpful). The idea here is to break the content into logical parts.

Step 2: Create additional Content Items under the Course Homepage and distribute the new parts accordingly. For instance, technical and system help, and tips and tricks for using the online system really have little to do with your class, but are important nonetheless, so create a Content Item called "Help" and put all of this information in your new "Help" item.

Create another content item called "Office" (you've seen this idea in past Tips). Put your picture and biography here, along with contact information, response times, and maybe even an open threaded discussion for students to ask general questions.

Creating "Help" and "Office" will free up the syllabus to focus just on your course, while at the same time, making you (your instructor presence) and technical help easy to find when needed.

NOTE: The eCollege syllabus has a place for most of this instructor information (minus the threaded discussion), but it can easily be hidden with the click of a box. Click or unclick "Show Instructor Information" in the syllabus builder.

By following steps One and Two, you'll have a Course Home that looks like this:

Course Homepage (system generated)
Syllabus (system generated)
Calendar (system generated)
Office (your custom item)
Help (your custom item)

Here's a final idea: Copy and paste the course schedule from your syllabus to the Homepage Announcement section. As mentioned earlier, some strategic, redundant information is helpful--the course schedule tucked away as an announcement on the homepage is an easy way to help better serve your students.

Another advised bit of redundancy is to offer up your syllabus in a form that is easily printed. It never hurts to have your syllabus in the form of an Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word document.

Most computer users will at least have the free Adobe PDF Reader that comes with Windows, but beware that not everyone will have Microsoft Word. Many people do, but not everyone, so make sure to save your Microsoft Word-based syllabus as an .rtf (Rich Text Format). Just about all word processors can read an .rtf. So this is a safe way to go when using Microsoft Word.

That's it! Get your syllabus under control by making these easy changes to your course.

       --Steve Bordonaro, M.Ed.