I recently started a Brown Bag Faculty E-Learning series at the college where I work. During the discussion, one faculty member said she thought she would like online teaching more than she actually did. The reason given was that she felt herself to be a shy person and was somewhat intimidated by the face-to-face teaching environment. She thought the relative anonymity of the online modality would suit her better.
What she found was that her classes were dull and lacked engagement by the students. Several other faculty members piped in with similar complaints. We talked quite awhile about how the e-learning world calls for even more outgoingness and a bigger-than-life personality. Somehow we must call our students forth from the tedium, blandness and isolation of distance education.
There are a number of techniques I use that are far from academic and are almost just plain common sense. I try to provide a high level of warmth and friendliness in all my interactions. It’s amazing how words and messages can be perceived on the monitor screen. Capital letters are like shouting. Using a red color also seems angry or brash. The worst is bold, red caps! Using calming colors for emphasis like blue or purple has a soothing effect for nervous students who are trying to get used to the online venue.
Respectful, courteous and friendly expression is imperative. But another important thing is that students really want to know you and it’s important for you to allow it! You will need to strike a comfortable balance, but self-disclosure truly helps a student be open to the lessons you teach. I find that when I reveal something of my self (again the emphasis on appropriate, comfortable self-disclosure), that my students will follow right along.
This modeling is very important in the beginning of the course to set the tone for the rest of the course! Before I realized that I had to be bigger than life, my classes were not nearly as well-engaged as they are now!
As always, great insights Rochelle. I think you touched on something important here. The web is a social space for people to share information, ideas, stories and conversations with each other. It is important that instructors in an online class be social online with their students. The problem that I’ve seen many instructors have is that they do not view the web as a social place and beyond e-mail, they don’t necessarily participate socially online in their out of class lives. This is like taking someone who has hardly any public speaking experience and throwing them in front of a large lecture class. When teachers aren’t learning online (and I don’t necessarily mean just formal classes) and being social online in their own lives it can be difficult for them to just jump in and be comfortable doing this with their online students.
[...] of faith from lurking to participating. Rochelle talks about the need for online instructors to be “Bigger than Life,” and explains the need to open yourself up and let students get to know you. Respectful, courteous [...]
[...] of faith from lurking to participating. Rochelle talks about the need for online instructors to be “Bigger than Life,” and explains the need to open yourself up and let students get to know you. Respectful, courteous [...]