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Tag: online teaching

“Getting to Know You” Activities

Published June 6, 2020
“Getting to Know You” Activities

“Getting to Know You” activities are an important consideration when establishing social presence in courses. My students are educators and learning experience designers so my “getting to know you” activities are sometimes design oriented — serving two important goals: social presence and design thinking/exploration. In addition these activities serve as low-stakes opportunities for orienting students to various tools and platforms (e.g., Flipgrid). I use these activities at the start of a semester as well as throughout the course for reconnection purposes because I don’t think one getting-to-know-you activity during the first week of a course is sufficient. Establishing social presence…

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Reliance on visual cues during web conferencing

Published July 23, 2018

Every time I facilitate a live web conference / webinar, I am reminded of how much I rely on the visual cues from the audience. People nodding, taking notes, talking to a neighbor, or even glaring at me with arms crossed across their bodies…those cues give me information that encourages me, informs me, and often redirects me. I am not a good multitasker. So, my other challenge — one commonly expressed by people working in synchronous technology-mediated spaces — is that I want to deliver a smooth presentation while at the same time attend to the high volume of text-based…

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Preparing for guest speakers

Published July 20, 2018

I think it is nice to have guest speakers in my classes because they offer different perspectives on topics, and are often much better equipped than I am to talk about how things happen and work in the professional world for which the students are preparing. However, I have found that it can also lead to a lost opportunity if students don’t prepare ahead of time. Guests are only with us for a limited amount of time, and they are coming to class on their own time as a service to the community of practice. It is no fun for…

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Three-pronged approach to online discussions for learning

Published July 20, 2018

In my experience, designing and facilitating online discussions for learning requires a three-pronged approach. The three prongs are: relevance, expectations, and preparation. Relevance Students are busy folks…they don’t have time for busywork and resent activities that feel like phluff. An online discussion for learning needs to be relevant and have a clear purpose for students to attend to it in personally, professionally, and/or academically meaningful ways. If the online discussion they are being asked to participate in is seen as irrelevant then they will fail to contribute to the discussion as hoped, and will fail to take anything of value…

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