Role of the Instructor
The instructor should realize and account for the student experience...ways to address it: offering simple assessments on computer skills needed...introductions at the start of a course (let students post pictures - make it personal), offer links to student resources (including remedial), provide clear schedules, have scheduled instant messaging/chat times, etc.
Additional instructor roles are:
- Establish rapport with students
- Make students feel at ease and encourage them to participate.
- Communicate constantly
- Regular emails, active involvement in discussion forums (but still allow private student-only forums)
- Flexibility
- Often online learners are adults who have varying time constraints - expect it and accept it
- Organization
- Schedule study time and online time to ensure all course obligations are met
- Creator and Curator
- The instructor is the creator and curator of the online environment - levels of respect, concern for learning, etc. are all set by the instructor. An attitude that accepts failure as critical to learning is needed
It obviously helps the process if the instructor has taken an online course and knows the frustrations and headaches.
High online dropouts can be (partially) addressed through solid student-centered course design, student preparation (i.e. bringing to the student's consciousness the reality of the online experience), clearly communicated expectations (i.e. instructors), and active instructor involvement in drawing students into discussions.
