February 13, 2018

By: Gloria Donnelly, professor and dean emerita and longtime champion of technology-enhanced learning

I taught my first online course 19 years ago. Because the learning management system at that time was rather primitive, we met in-person three times; at the start, midway and at the end of the course. The in-person sessions reinforced my teaching philosophy that successful teaching and learning is the result of strong relationships with students. However, as online technology evolved, the number of students living at great distances increased, and the convenience of learning at home took hold, we rapidly moved away from the hybrid format in most courses.

Online courses are now delivered through learning management systems that enable synchronous meetings and virtual office hours. Yet, the quality of personal engagement, even with the use of sophisticated technological tools, remains problematic for me, given my beliefs about how students learn. Nineteen years of online teaching has not dampened my belief that building effective relationships with students is the key to great learning outcomes. To compensate, I use simple strategies to engage more personally with my online students. Here are just a few:

• Speak directly to each student before the course begins. I email students to request a pre-course phone conference. The student response always exceeds 90%. During the call, I introduce myself, briefly describe the course and ask students to read the syllabus as soon as the course opens. If the course is an elective or cognate in the student's program, I ask why they selected it to get a sense of their interests. We discuss where they are in their program of study, whether this is their first online course, whether or not they work, have extensive family responsibilities and what concerns they might have about the course or the workload. I keep a spreadsheet summarizing the students' information for future reference especially if problems arise. After the call, I email the student my phone numbers and responses to any questions that could not be answered on the call.

• Converse with students through their written assignments. I use "track changes" inside of Word to edit and give personal feedback and commentary on all student papers. This gives students the benefit of my editorial skills and background knowledge about course content. I do not use systems that "automate" feedback on papers using stock phrases or trite comments. I use my expert knowledge and pedagogical judgment in interacting with the content of students' papers. I let students know when their writings have led me to question my own thinking or beliefs. I insert comment boxes in the margins that raise questions, ask for clarity, offer complementary or competing ideas and recommend further readings. If the paper is exceptionally well written, I praise the student and recommend strategies to further hone their writing skills. At least half of my online students need serious help with their writing and they do appreciate personalized feedback and often react to it. I tell students that the highest praise I can give is that they "changed my thinking."

• Give students timely and supportive feedback. At the end of the second week of an online course, I run a course activity report revealing how many hours the student spent in the course. A student should spend at least 3 hours per week in a 3 credit course - viewing the videos, completing the exercises or readings. The range of time spent in my classes is from less than an hour to 5 times the expectation and these statistics correlate with performance on assignments. I send a brief email to each student reporting total time spent in 2 weeks of the course. I offer assistance to those who have spent little time in the course and most respond positively. Some dispute the data and I listen. For example, I have learned and acknowledged that visiting the course to download materials and reading them offline, does not reflect real hours spent by students - the "data" does not always reflect "truth."

• Elicit periodic student feedback. I do not wait until the end of the course to elicit student feedback. Instead, at midpoint I ask students about the relevance of course materials and the effectiveness of the technology. Students often hold back complaints for fear of being penalized. However, asking students individually and collectively what you can do to improve their experience indicates your interest in meeting their unique learning needs. I have many faculty colleagues that distribute a midpoint course evaluation to pinpoint immediate course adjustments. Such data can be used to significantly improve the final half of a course. If students are harsh with their feedback, I sift out the message and at a later point post a brief lecture on how to give effective feedback.

Of all the roles I have performed in my long career, I consider teaching the most important and most satisfying -- a sacred duty. I have developed lasting relationships even with online students that I never met in person. Most importantly, I do not let the online environment dictate my philosophy of teaching and learning. Technology is a tool and I use it or work around it to personalize learning for my students.