[Insert jaw-drop]
I just checked — and I am truly flabbergasted to realize that the very first time that Kylie and I connected to explore the potential of working together on our research literature project was TWO! MONTHS! AGO! (yesterday). My brain might be melting a little.
So, what exactly have I accomplished in the past two months (and a day)? While there are times I’m tempted to say sweet *blankety-blank* nothin’, I guess the more pragmatic side of me would hold that thought and say, actually, quite a lot.
Within the framework of the research presentation Kylie and I did, one of the most interesting (ok, fine – it was also one of the most rewarding) things to find was that I have, over the years, put into practice many of the suggestions found in the literature to increase and enhance student engagement in asynchronous online education settings. Reflecting on the evolution of my adoption and integration of these various aspects into my practice is another point of interest; many of these pieces have developed over time and through the influence and observation of other online teachers’ practices. And, I find that I serve as a case in point: the literature also indicated that online teachers typically have not been specially trained for the online construct, and that there is a grand lack of support via professional development in these settings.
So, what practices does the literature suggest an online teacher embrace in order to engender greater student engagement (and therefore success) in an asynchronous online context? Of the many recommendations, I’m drawn to one area which came up repeatedly as being both central and key to building relationships with students, which in turn fosters their engagement in learning…
Communication: frequent, ongoing, personal, informal
I have adopted a practice of introducing myself to students, by posting an “about me” page within the general course information pages of online content. This same introduction has also been linked within a “welcome” email sent to students at the start of a term.
Email is a significant method of communication and the primary tool, in many instances, of cultivating a relationship with students, some of whom (depending upon the context) I will never actually meet face to face, and with whom I might never even speak. I endeavour, very much, to impart levity and compassion and a sense of personal connection to my students within each of my email messages. This means that even if I reuse some of the same messages, I still do my best to have written it in such as way that it feels personal — and I know that this has been effective, since students have responded with their own heartfelt reply — even when the initial communication has been on some difficult topic.
Though much of my experience has been in strictly asynchronous settings, I have also spent a lot of time where mandatory synchronous online sessions are hosted on a regular schedule. When this is the case, I use the first few minutes to take attendance while simultaneously encouraging and engaging the students in informal conversations. I ask them to run their webcams and use their mics while we talk; depending on the group, there are extremely varied levels of buy-in on this! Conversations may be prompted by a student’s offer of some weekend highlight (a trip or special event), or by a recent holiday, or by the whim of the moment. Earlier today, I asked my eighth and ninth grade math students what they would make for dinner, should they find themselves needing to prepare that meal. I fielded many chat-based replies, asked clarifying questions (tacos? Hard shells or flour tortillas?), chimed in with my own experiences (pasta is delicious; growing up, I remember how my mom made us “dessert” by buttering plain spaghetti noodles, sprinkling that with icing sugar, and topping it all with chopped walnuts), thanked students for their contributions as they made them, and took the time to check that each student had been asked for their thoughts on the matter. The twofold benefit of this kind of informal chatter is that not only do the students get to know me (and I them) better, but they also get a chance to develop relationships with one another: a growing sense of community and familiarity as a group of friends, which is another critical aspect of fostering student engagement especially in the online context.
To offset the risk of sounding as though I know it all and have everything under wraps, there are multiple areas in which I would like to spend time amending, adjusting and ameliorating my current practices:
- Feedback
- Since face-to-face interactions happen rarely, if ever, in an online setting, prompt feedback is a critical part of giving students a sense of connection and engagement. Unfortunately, I have been struggling to provide feedback to students (regardless of summative or formative) within a month of work being submitted, let alone a standard of two-to-three business days which was the standard with another school board for whom I’ve worked in the past.
- I do endeavour to provide a written, holistic commentary on the overall quality of the work provided and, when applicable, point out areas or patterns of errors or misunderstandings as well as resources which may be useful in remediating that learning.
- To date, I provide all feedback in the form of text-based comments and digital annotations on file submissions. I would like to experiment with feedback created and supplied in different (or multiple) modalities, such as video or voice recordings.
- Since face-to-face interactions happen rarely, if ever, in an online setting, prompt feedback is a critical part of giving students a sense of connection and engagement. Unfortunately, I have been struggling to provide feedback to students (regardless of summative or formative) within a month of work being submitted, let alone a standard of two-to-three business days which was the standard with another school board for whom I’ve worked in the past.
- Parent/guardian contact
- Many of our research articles noted the importance of parental involvement in K-12 online students’ learning. This is an area in which my administration (rightfully) stresses as being of great importance, and has repeatedly requested staff to prioritize contacting families of students who are not attending synchronous sessions, or who are behind timelines, or whose grades are below passing, but it is an area I have been abysmally poor at executing. Communicating with parents regarding student progress (or lack thereof) was also a challenge for me in my early years of working as an online teacher.
- Partly contributing to this, I suppose, may be a bias: I find it extremely difficult to put off aiding students who are requesting help, or marking assessments to provide feedback for those students who are actually working, in order to reach out to the students who are not showing up, not doing the work, or who appear not to care, as evidenced by their lack of interaction with the course content.
- Another contributing factor (and significant source of frustration) is the painfully inadequate, ridiculously inefficient, and maddeningly time-consuming structures and systems which must be navigated in order to determine which students’ families need to be contacted, how to contact them, and to gather a snapshot of the student’s current course mark, progress to date, attendance at live sessions, and any previous communications between the school and the family. The technical systems which host these databases of information are not even remotely user-friendly or streamlined to be functional for an online school setting, and it sets my teeth on edge to know that there are better systems out there!
- Ideally, I would like to embrace a system of communicating with families on a weekly basis, with the simple goal of sharing which module is currently being worked on, what important task or assessment might be upcoming, and a reminder and encouragement to reach out to me with questions or concerns.
- This could be implemented fairly simply, as I already have contact lists sorted by course and student or parent group. I do harbour a sense of aversion to this entire endeavour, though, out of dislike for what I see as a necessarily impersonal and unoriginal mass communication. Discovering some way to inject originality or to pique interest will alleviate this; but even if I cannot find such, I realize this is a situation in which something is better than nothing, and I may simply need to let good enough be sufficient.
- Many of our research articles noted the importance of parental involvement in K-12 online students’ learning. This is an area in which my administration (rightfully) stresses as being of great importance, and has repeatedly requested staff to prioritize contacting families of students who are not attending synchronous sessions, or who are behind timelines, or whose grades are below passing, but it is an area I have been abysmally poor at executing. Communicating with parents regarding student progress (or lack thereof) was also a challenge for me in my early years of working as an online teacher.
At the end of the day, when I step back a little and take a moment to consider what it is I am doing, and why, it is good to remember…I’m here for the students. And being a part of their lives, no matter how small a part it may seem, is a gift. And that is a beautiful thing.
Seek. Grow. Share.