Encouraging a Trusting Environment Online
You may have heard it once or many times over: the way to help to students succeed is to forge a trusting environment and relationship with them. Although research has proven this to be true; however, teaching online is quite different from delivering lessons in face-to-face classrooms. Instructing remotely can sometimes leave both instructors and students feeling a little disconnected. No judgement here, but it can be easy to forget that percipient students do exist in the cyber classroom. So how can instructors help students stay connected in a remote classroom?
Culturally Responsive Teaching
According to Inside Higher Ed, the student demographic is shifting towards becoming more ethnically diverse and attracting more non-traditional adult learners. The good news here is that these are growing demographics, so it is important to foster an inclusive environment
(St Amore, 2020). Incorporating cultural diversity in online courses can take a little more time to prepare however, “constructing a shared belief through course design may help lessen some of the adverse effects that may be experienced in the online classroom” (Hampton, 2018, p.27). Some ways to improve the method or development of online teaching programs are to:
- Know your students (nationality, gender, age, language, disability)
- Prepare more learner-centered assignments where students can learn how to effect change in the real world.
- Allow students to communicate with each other.
- Encourage students to share material and ideas in a way that encourage cross-cultural understanding (Istrate, 2015, p.125).
Academic isolation plays a part in online student struggles
Many students who choose the online option as their mode of instruction, may not ever meet their instructors or classmates in person. However, seeing and hearing one another’s faces and voices reminds us that we are all still here working together. Here are a couple of ideas to encourage students to stay tuned, keep their cameras on in Zoom, and participate. Try encouraging a social presence by asking students a question of the week or day on current event interests, plans, playlists, and talents. This can be done face-to-face, Zoom sessions, and online using the discussion board-online students could also be given the choice of responding with audio or video recordings. By the end of the semester, students should have a sense of familiarity with their course participants. Another idea is to host small breakout for a quick chat about assignments or other activities this helps students to feel that they are receiving feedback and personal attention. These are a few strategies to encourage connection in online classrooms.
Resources:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/5-ways-to-connect-with-online-students
References:
Hampton, M. M. (2018). Designing for Immediacy and Culture. In K. Milheim (Ed.), Cultivating Diverse Online Classrooms Through Effective Instructional Design (pp. 17-44). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Istrate, A. M. (2015). Intercultural dimensions and their implications in the development of online courses targeted at teacher-centered cultures. E-Learning & Software for Education, 3, 122-126.
St Amour, Madeline. Faculty Face Uphill Battle Adapting to Needs of Today’s Students, 17 Nov. 2020, www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/03/faculty-face-uphill-battle-adapting-needs-todays-students.