Three Ways to Efficiently and Effectively Support Online Learners

Photo: Laurie Grosik

"Trying to support students in an online course can create an unsustainable burden on the instructor. “I’ve heard faculty members say things such as, ‘When I first started teaching online, I drowned in my course. I was making myself available 24 hours/seven days a week. If a student posted, I felt I had to reply immediately. They were counting on me regardless of time of day,’” says Dr. Laurie Grosik, assistant professor in the master in health science program at Saint Francis University. In an interview with Online Classroom, she suggested ways to support online students without creating an undue burden on the instructor." according to Rob Kelly,  Author at Faculty Focus.

Photo: Faculty Focus

Rhythm/template
“We don’t want students to be baffled by the technology. The technology shouldn’t be the barrier to the coursework. We want them concentrating on the course content, and by that I mean we strongly stress the use of a template of some sort so that the students can get into the rhythm of each week. Each course I’m going into has a similar look and feel, so that way the technology becomes transparent to the learner and instead they can concentrate on the course materials, which is ultimately our end goal—for them to learn the course materials,” Grosik says.

In addition to having a familiar look and feel, online courses should provide students with regular interaction. Each week features written assignments, online discussions, and chapter checks (more on chapter checks below). “Oftentimes the assignments are components of a larger project that the students would be completing throughout the semester, but we break it into segments to ensure that the students are moving along in their work. We found that students in online courses can get left by the wayside if you don’t have something that’s due. If you don’t have that interaction with the students on a weekly basis, it’s quite easy for them to stray from their personal timelines,” Grosik says.
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Source: Faculty Focus