Excellence In Teaching And Learning In The Virtual Environment
Maryville University, School of Adult and Online Education
Excellence in online teaching begins by making connections with students throughout the learning process. This is achieved when your engagement with your students enables them to connect learning in new ways, with new experiences, and within their field.
Connected learning is facilitating active engagement and connection between the learner, his/her peers, the instructor, and the course content. It requires actively engaging and connecting with students. This is a similar approach as the traditional classroom but modified for the online learning environment.
In most online environments, it is understood that students are expected to connect, or engage with, their faculty in the following ways:
• student / student – Course discussion, small group facilitation using collaborative documents or audio/video communication tools
• student / content – Relevant articles, videos, podcasts, or other text-based resources to review prior to discussion; these may be sourced by the instructor or the students
• student / instructor – clear communication and feedback
At Maryville, our online faculty are asked to deliberately, and with intention, engage with students throughout the learning process. Our focus is on both the quality of instruction and engagement and how our engagement with our faculty helps students build connections with you and their peers, gain a greater understanding of the content, and help to grow in their professional field.
Virtual Teaching Checklist
✓ Check into your course daily. It is important be familiar with course activity and assure that tools and assignments are functioning properly
✓ Check in with students regularly through announcements and other modes of communication like email, discussion replies, recorded video messages, and live chats.
✓ Use examples and/or assignments that include real world events or local/regional trends that are timely and relevant
✓ Be clear with your of organization and expectations so students can more meaningfully measure learning
✓ Offer multiple types of assessments including frequent, low-stakes testing
✓ Give students opportunities to take risks. They can submit video assignments, make unexpected comparisons, or investigate intriguing questions.
✓ Engage your students with consistent feedback and quick responses to questions
✓ Where possible, allow an opportunity for student choice whether it be to choose a research topic, assignment modality, or leading a discussion.
✓ Work toward inclusive understandings of students from various walks of life. This could include the incorporation of unique perspectives and examples.
✓ Create an environment where students are challenged and interested in participating in discussion boards.
✓ Building trust with your students all semester by communicating in a meaningful way.
The Importance of Presence
Teaching presence cannot be pre-designed. For an instructor teaching at a distance, presence is critical. Presence exists inside and outside of the learning management system. As students transition to this format for learning, the following will be important for establishing and reassuring students with your presence:
1. Be clear and consistent with instructions/guidance provided using tools in the Canvas LMS. This includes outlining clear timelines and expectations.
We often are able to clarify our expectations in class and through Q&A periods. In the virtual environment, explicit expectations in discussions, assignments, and announcement are essential. Students cannot pick up on nuance or ask questions right away, so the more clear we can be in our written requests, the more likely our students are to succeed.
2. Establish and communicate a communication plan.
Classes may meet during regularly scheduled times using remote tools. Consider how students should talk with you outside of class. How will you replace those before/after class conversations? Communicate email hours, communication preferences, and anticipated response times.
3. Establish an agenda for class meetings and course discussions.
Having and communicating clear protocols online is just as important as it is in the classroom. You may be able to directly translate how you manage your classroom time using remote tools. You may have to adjust your previous classroom approach. Thinking through your agenda in advance, enables flexibility and allows your remote classroom meetings to be more effective.
If you will plan to use Canvas discussions during this transition, but are new to facilitating online forums, review the recorded session from our 2019 Winter Workshop. This conversation centers on strategies for facilitating online discussions in meaningful ways. Click here to watch the recorded webinar.
(please contact Laura Ross at lross@maryville.edu if you do not have access to this page).