DE Oracle @ UMUC

Helpful Hints on Effective Online Teaching: Managing the Online Classroom

CSI Staff

Staff Writer

Center for Support of Instruction

Published: 0 2003

Category: » Online-pedagogy » Classroom-management

This is part three of a multi-part series devoted to keys to success for effective online teaching. This third installment is devoted to approaches for carrying the momentum generated at the beginning of the class throughout the duration of the semester. Once again, our veteran faculty share their best practices,strategies and techniques devised through trial and error over years of experience. Please note that these suggestions are intended as food for thought and do not replace specific guidelines and procedures provided by individual academic units.

Study Groups: Strategies

To avoid extra work for yourself and potential confusion among your students,wait until the late registration period is over (one week after classes begin) to assign study group teams and activities. Until then, you may experience fluctuation in your class member roster as students add and drop the class.

Ideally,groups should be comprised of four to six members. According to a seasoned faculty member, "Four to six member teams are optimal because there are enough group participants to share the work, but not so many that good communication and coordination are compromised.If a member withdraws, the group can still function and achieve its goals."

Be careful to assign each student to only one group.

Depending on where your course falls within the academic program lifecycle, you may want to assign groups randomly or allow students to self-select their groups. "When I teach our program's entry-level course, I routinely assign groups, but when I teach courses that fall later in the program, I tend to let the students form their own groups if they want to," explained a faculty member. She finds that when students self-select their groups, they tend to avoid the logistical hassles that sometimes hamper teams, and are able to work more efficiently. Regardless of the selection method used to assign groups, you need to provide students with clear guidelines and expectations regarding group participation and responsibilities.

For more hints, please see Best Practices for Successful Class Teams.

Effective Communication: Writing for Online Classes

To keep your readers’ interest, write short paragraphs that focus on one idea apiece.

Add credibility and keep your class current by linking to relevant web sites whenever possible.

Throughout your online classroom, strive to keep a positive tone of voice in your writing so that students feel welcome and accepted. In the words of a seasoned faculty member, "To do their best work,students must feel comfortable and confident in their online classroom. I view it as my responsibility as the faculty member to remain involved,interested, and patient in order to provide a positive learning experience for my students."

Since your students don’t have the non-verbal cues available In a face-to-face classroom to help them understand your meaning, it’s critically important to write in a clear and straightforward manner.This goes a long way to minimizing potential misinterpretations.

Your online behavior establishes your expectations for your students' behavior; be a role model for fair and equitable treatment! For guidance,see UMUC's Guidelines for Online Etiquette and the Read Me First template guidelines.

Review your classroom materials each semester and update as needed. As a faculty member explained, "Each semester I strive to improve my text based on feedback received from students. I know I'm doing a better job because I receive far fewer student questions now both in the classroom and via e-mail."

For additional information on writing effectively for an online audience, see Jakob Nielsen's How Users Read on the Web.

Effective Formatting of Text

There are several easy steps you can take to make your text more effective, either using HTML or WebTycho’s text formatting editor. An easy to follow guide to basic HTML is available at the DE Oracle if you would additional information on HTML.

Use bold and color (sparingly) to highlight important due dates and other items.This helps students focus on due dates, and also will make it easier for you to find specific dates that need to be revised in future semesters. Your students will also appreciate highly judicious use of bold and color, as plain black and white is more printer-friendly. One faculty member confided, "My first semester teaching, I was so enamored with adding background color wherever possible, that I caused a student to use an entire color ink cartridge within the first week of class.He made his displeasure known to the course manager, who in turn, contacted me. I have since taken out much of the color and now just use it sparing."

In the conference area, respond in color to your students. As one faculty member explained, "I respond to my students in red. That way, when they're viewing all the responses in a thread they can quickly identify my responses."

Avoid underlines, as it makes people think that it is a link. If you do include links, however, make sure to provide the complete URL to the site so that it is available if the student prints out the page.

Avoid using all capital letters, as it is difficult to read and has come to represent yelling in the online world.

Use bullets to chunk similar information.

When appropriate, include photos and diagrams to illustrate your materials. Students learn in a variety of different ways, and visual aids can breakup lengthy text and make your point more effectively.

Managing the Online Classroom

Effective faculty members immediately establish and maintain their presence in the Conference area by posting topics on a regular basis, reading responses in a timely manner, and always following up with relevant comments, feedback, and summaries.

The Conference area also provides a great opportunity for faculty members to assign teams to moderate or summarize topics. Again, however, it's critical to maintain a faculty presence by commenting frequently, providing regular feedback, and posting summaries.

Use extreme caution in assigning students to post their own questions in the Conference area. In order for this to succeed, faculty members must establish and communicate explicit guidelines, time frames, and expectations for student participation.

If you've experienced any fall-off in overall level of student activity,consider a mid-course correction to promote class participation on the part of all students. Consult your course manager and your Instructional Support Specialist for advice and assistance. You may need to reconsider the number of required tasks and assignments. For additional suggestions, the DE Oracle @ UMUC features the following relevant articles:

• Fostering Interaction in the Online Environment: Some Ideas for Instructors
• An Interactive Student Activity
• Moderating Conference Discussions
• Enhancing the Atmosphere of Your Online Classroom - Part I
• Enhancing the Atmosphere of Your Online Classroom - Part II

In the event of a problem in the classroom (such as an inadvertent miscommunication,etc.), acknowledge the error, make an effort to fix the problem immediately,and communicate the correction to the class. Typically, such problems don't resolve themselves.

If you've set up a conference that isn't class-content related (such as a "Cyber Café" or other conference) make sure to monitor it so student questions don't go unanswered.

If you engage in synchronous chat sessions, make a copy of each session available in a conference for those students who aren't able to participate.Also, this provides an opportunity for you and the students to engage in an ongoing discussion if appropriate.

For additional assistance, refer to the Mid-Semester Checklist:

• Online Classes
• Face-to-Face Web Enhanced Classes
  

Summary

Several key components to creating an effective online learning environment emerged from our discussions with seasoned faculty members. These include the following:

• User-friendly classroom planning and organization (post information in a consistent manner; provide clear, concise, and timely directions and instructions)
  High levels of faculty-to-student and student-to-student interaction facilitated by a strong faculty presence (it is not enough to merely check-in, you must "leave tracks" in the form of announcements and conference responses, too)
  Timely, regular, and constructive feedback (that lets the student know you care about his/her progress in your class).

Faculty consistently report that these factors, coupled with current and relevant course content, yield stimulating learning environments where students strive to do their best.

We hope you find the suggestions included in this article useful. If you have questions or need more information about how to implement any recommendations discussed in this series, please contact your CSI Instructional Support Specialist for assistance. Also, please forward to your Instructional Support Specialist any useful hints, tips, and techniques you've employed so that we may share them with other faculty members.

We are indebted to our experienced faculty members for their valuable insights, and want to thank them again for their time and effort on the Graduate School's behalf.

Other articles in this series

• Helpful Hints for Effective Online Teaching: Pre-Class Preparation
  
• Helpful Hints for Effective Online Teaching: Setting Up Your WebTycho Classroom
  
• Helpful Hints for Effective Online Teaching:  Managing the Online Classroom