Preparing Students for Online Environments
According to a study in Education Digest, students need to be taught the skills of self-reflection and assessment to reach success in an online learning environment. Social and emotional practices need to be integrated into the curriculum to prepare students for real-world scenarios and online etiquette as well. Even though the students are taught through e-learning, social and emotional needs are crucial for the learning process to be achieved. (Angiello, R. 2010).
Click on the link below and look at what they are doing at Wake Tech Community College to get their students and faculty ready for e-learning success.
Another study, Learning Analytics of Student Participation and Achievement in Online Distance Education, revealed the participation of students in forum submissions and online lecture attendance positively had a direct effect on project scores and a positive indirect effect on final exams. Discussion submissions had direct positive effects on final exams. The more students participated, the higher their scores were.
Student success online depends on student participation with more engaging learning activities, along with a high-level educator engagement and transparency to their students (Koç, M. 2017).
Educator Knowledge
In order for an online learning environment to succeed, faculty must be trained and supported to do more of what matters to students. This requires higher levels of teaching presence, direct facilitation, and effective ID and organization. A study analysis in the Foundations of Science revealed that classes are being run by course assistance, there is no instructor presence, and the implementation of strictly peer assessments are being used to replace feedback from the professor. Concluding that students are teaching themselves, and educators are being deprofessionalized. The study finds that educators are ill-prepared to teach in an online environment and lack the ability to see the potential in their students. (Feenberg, A. 2017).
Faculty must be trained and supported to do more of what matters to students. This requires higher levels of teaching presence, direct facilitation, and effective ID and organization. A study of teaching presence and student sense of learning community in fully online and web-enhanced college courses reveals that a strong and active presence on the part of the instructor, where they actively guide discourse, is related to both a student’s sense of connectedness and leaning. Students that reported more effective ID and organization also reported higher levels of a learning community. The final takeaway is a positive correlation between a student’s sense of community and higher retention rates in the online learning sector (Shea, P., Sau Li, C., & Pickett, A. 2006).
ID and Instructor Engagement
According to an article in Faculty Focus, a higher education teaching, and learning publication, students report that dropping an online course is mostly attributed to feeling lonely and isolated (Kumar & Skrocki, 2017). Learning is a social activity, gaining knowledge through discourse and collaborative activities, as mainly associated with face-to-face learning environments. E-learners also learn through interactions and discussions with others. Humanizing an online course through professor engagement and a strong online presence, studies find has higher success rate than those that do not (Oregan, E., McCoy, L., & Carmon-Johnson, L. 2018).
It is not only important for facilitators to be transparent online but to build relationships with their learners and understand their needs. A survey conducted on the attitude towards course delivery revealed that instructors that are aware of their student’s demographics as well as the student’s perception of effectiveness of a course, are better equipped to help students achieve success in an e-learning environment (Peslak, A., Kovalchick, L., Wang, W., & Kovacs, P. 2018).
Adult students are particularly affected by the struggles of an online environment. According to a study published in Adult Learning, instructors’ model emotional intelligence through their own behavior, design, facilitation, and management observation. By providing a safe environment the instructor receives higher levels of engagement, respect, and collaborative learning. Adults learn best when they feel the content will help them solve real-world problems. As a result, when educators expose emotional intelligence in their curriculums, they are broadening their adult students’ attention, increasing their intellectual flexibility and creativity with further cognitive processing (Majeski, R. A., Stover, M., Valais, T., & Ronch, J. 2017)
Resources:
Angiello, R. (2010). Study Looks at Online Learning vs. Traditional Instruction. Education Digest, 76(2), 56-59.
Feenberg, A. (2017). The Online Education Controversy and the Future of the University. Foundations of Science, 22 (2), 363-371. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-015-9444-9
Koç, M. (2017). Learning Analytics of Student Participation and Achievement in Online Distance Education: A Structural Equation Modeling. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 17(6), 1893-1910. doi:10.12738/estp.2017.6.0059
Kumar, P., Ed.D., & Skrocki, M. (2017, May 16). Ensuring Student Success in Online Courses. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
Majeski, R. A., Stover, M., Valais, T., & Ronch, J. (2017). Fostering Emotional Intelligence in Online Higher Education Courses. Adult Learning, 28(4), 135-143. doi:10.1177/1045159517726873
Oregan, E., McCoy, L., & Carmon-Johnson, L. (2018). CASE ANALYSIS: EXPLORING THE APPLICATION OF USING RICH MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES AND SOCIAL PRESENCE TO DECREASE ATTRITION IN AN ONLINE GRADUATE PROGRAM. Journal of Educators Online,15(2). doi:10.9743/jeo2018.15.1
Peslak, A., Kovalchick, L., Wang, W., & Kovacs, P. (2018). Attitudes Toward Course Delivery: A Multi-University Study of Online, On-ground, And Hybrid Instruction. Information Systems and Technology Education,16(4), 27-33. doi:10.4018/978-1-59904-114-8.ch012
Shea, P., Sau Li, C., & Pickett, A. (2006). A study of teaching presence and student sense of learning community in fully online and web-enhanced college courses. Internet & Higher Education, 9(3), 175-190. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2006.06.005
Social and emotional practices should be an integral part of the online learning experience, especially with young learners. This practice is becoming more and more important as we grow technologically and provide online learning experiences. Sometimes, I think instructors get so pushed to teach the content basic expectations get left behind. Another point you made concerned instructors. I find I need instructor involvement as much in an online setting as a regular classroom. The instructor participation seems to give validity to the course and support learning.
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