Entry-level students who attend school online may have any one or all of these issues:
- Period of time away from attending school and lack of confidence because of that
- Limited time to do assignments due to full-time work, or other duties such as family care
- Slow computer connection
- Older computer without all of the necessary software to be able to access specific file types
- Lack of a personal computer and the need to travel to a location where there is a computer such as a library or a friend of relative’s home
- May have poor study or computer skills
Our job as an online Instructor is to remain AWARE of the many situations that may face our students and to tailor our teaching skills to facilitate their SUCCESS. By doing this, we will fulfill what, in the industry, is known as retention, but just simply means: keeping the student in school long enough to receive their degree.
Here are some suggestions for online retention:
1) Clear instructions about what will happen in the course
a) Syllabus should be complete and detailed with what you expect – I get my students to approve and confirm the syllabus by posting a reply in the appropriate forum
b) Contact information for the Instructor or Facilitator
i) How can you be reached?
ii) What times of day can they call?
iii) When are you NOT available?
c) Software requirements needed to accommodate the material being offered in the course. For my classes, this would be, at a minimum, some office productivity software, Adobe Reader and Flash.
d) Recommended connection speed. They should know that a dial-up connection will not be satisfactory for the most part
e) Any synchronous meetings you may plan, like “chats”
f) Let students know your expectations early!
i) Post a detailed calendar with due dates and make sure it’s accessible from the syllabus
2. Respond promptly to emails or questions that come through the forum
(a) First few days – respond by 6 hours
(b) After that-24 hours
3. Make assignments relevant – please no busy work!
4. Create a help page. This reduces stress for the student by having resources where they can see them. Use the color blue instead of red to further reduce stress
(a) Provide links to resources that are needed in the class such as tutorials, help files, explanations of policy (such as cheating and plagiarism) or good sources of material that support the lessons.
5. Intervene when students miss assignments or are “absent” from class
6. Honor special student contributions by posting “words of wisdom” from students
7. Create assignments that keep students logging in
8. Consistent feedback – make sure you provide regular feedback for your students. Most students want the result of their postings and tests “yesterday”. Help them to feel motivated to continue to contribute by keeping YOUR contributions to them exemplary
9. Build community in your classroom– this will be the topic of the next post!!!!
