Categories: Communication Design, Technology, Theory & Rhetoric
Summary:
Savery outlines his VOCAL (visible, organized, compassionate, analytical, leader-by-example) attributes of successful online instructors. While most of the information in the article is now common knowledge and practice among scholars in this discipline, this paper outlined one of the larger studies on best practices from the first decade of the twenty-first century.
One may question one point in the article, the statement "write WAY MORE in an online environment than is necessary." I may be splitting hairs, but it seems superior to write clearly and concisely.
Citation-worthy:
"Simply stated, to maximize their effectiveness as teachers in the online classroom instructors need to BE VOCAL. Please note, this does NOT mean that instructors need to “talk” a lot" (Savery, 2005, p. 141).
"Visibility is closely linked with the concept of social presence (Fabro & Garrison, 1998; McIsaac & Gunawardena, 1996; Rourke, Anderson, Garrison, & Archer, 1999). Social presence is defined as the degree of awareness of another person in an interaction and the consequent appreciation of an interpersonal relationship (Walther, 1992). Social presence is the degree of feeling, perception and reaction of being connected to another intellectual entity and in the context of an online learning environment, social presence impacts online interaction (Tammelin, 1998; Tu & McIsaac, 2002)" (Savery, 2005, p. 143).
"Suggested [visibility] strategies. Instructor visibility is demonstrated through public and
private communication channels. Public visibility would include:
1) A web site with personal and professional information about the instructor. This ‘personal’ web site should reflect the personality of an instructor and allow the students to get to know them better. Information to place on the website might be a recent photo of the instructor, pictures of their pets, a list of favorite places to visit, books recently read, and so on. The key idea is to enable students to initiate conversations on topics of shared interest. There will always be time to discuss course content but this will become easier when the ‘strangeness’ has been reduced.
2) Instructor comments made in a timely fashion to the shared discussion forums to let students know that you are reading their messages.
3) Broadcast messages in the form of email to all participants.
4) Banner notices on the Welcome page updated regularly. This technique may be used to recognize a contribution or event in the life of a particular student, or to provide a general announcement about a recent resource or article of interest.
5) Updating the shared calendar with assignment due dates, or ‘Tuesday’s Trivia Question.’ The specific vehicle used will depend on the capabilities of the online learning environment.
6) In the near future, as bandwidth constraints are removed instructors and students will be able to interact through brief video clips and audio messages. Properly done this technology can provide for strong visibility and social presence" (Savery, 2005, pp. 143-144).
"Organization also means anticipation. Experienced classroom teachers – those who have taught a grade or subject area several times- prepare instructional materials for their students that are ‘bulletproof’ meaning directions are clear for all assignments, instructional materials have been thoroughly reviewed and problems that developed in previous teaching sessions have been addressed. It is better to have more materials prepared than might be needed" (Savery, 2005, p. 145).
"Suggested [organization] Strategies:
1) Require your students to take an online self-assessment and report back (to you or the class) on what they think are the characteristics of a successful online student.
2) Prepare your syllabus carefully and thoroughly (Fullmer-Umari, 2000) and post it on the LMS so it is easily accessible by your students. A well-conceived syllabus is pre-emptive in that it answers learner questions before they are asked.
3) Provide the course assignments and due dates early in the course so students know what to expect and when. Use the capabilities of the web-based environment to hyperlink resource documents to assignments.
4) Prepare a document that explains the “Do’s and Don’ts” of your online class. Describe rules for netiquette, for comments in the discussion forums, and for communicating concerns to the instructor. Some instructors have students send an email message acknowledging that they have read the Class Rules and agree to abide by them.
5) Anticipate the need for a ‘non-instructional’ venue for online discussions by creating a discussion topic such as ‘The Coffee Shop’ for non-course relateddiscussions. This Coffee Shop is usually created within the discussion forum area of the LMS with a clear mandate to be used for social talk.
6) Consider creating a discussion forum topic that allows for posting of current affairs information. Assign one or more students the task of adding a weekly news item that links to central themes in the course.
7) Use different formats for online resources and label each clearly (pdf, htm, doc, ppt). Allow students to select which format is most useful to them– i.e., students who need to download files and those who are comfortable with reading online. Provide information and links to specific applications such as Adobe Reader for pdf files.
8) As the instructor, you can use the capabilities of the LMS to control access to course materials. A selective release function manages files so that new instructional material is made available to the student only when mastery of previous material has been demonstrated. Depending on the sophistication of the LMS this may or may not be feasible. The purpose of this function is to allow the student to progress at their own best pace while ensuring that the instructional objectives have been achieved" (Savery, 2005, p. 146).
"Compassionate:Why [does] it [matter]? Many adults choose an online format because of the conditions they face in the real world. Many are working full time and/or raising their children and/or taking care of their parents. In an effort to upgrade their skills or qualifications they are adding this online course to an already crowded existence with many conflicting demands on their time and energy. Students in an online course are also subject to the whims of computer and network technologies. Technology literacy and functional competence are required/expected of online students and too often their knowledge of technology is both superficial and brittle. When some aspect of the online world is not working as expected, some may simply give up, while others may become frustrated" (Savery, 2005, p. 146).
"Suggested [compassion] Strategies:
1) Give students permission to communicate directly with you (as the instructor). The pressures of daily life are often unplanned – a sick child/spouse/parent can wreck havoc on the best intentions of completing an assignment by the due date.
2) In the threaded discussion topics for the class introduce an All About Me category. This will introduce the members of the online community to their covoyagers in the online class. When a student reveals that they are a single parent with three children and a full-time job (or some other reality) it will help the members of the community grow together. Names on the class list become ‘real people’ and everyone in the class begins to learn more about each other.
3) Use established ice-breaker techniques like a discussion topic that asks learners to a) post a message about themselves that contains two truths and one lie, or b) to share something about themselves that they are most proud of, or c) to share something that nobody knows about them (a hobby or talent).
4) When a student shares information with the instructor (e.g. death in family) ask if you can share this with the rest of the online community. The visibility element mentioned earlier applies to all members of the online community so this is a fair request – but permission is necessary.
5) If necessary, remind students of the Class Rules (see Organization) concerning expected conduct, levels of participation, and how you will respond to unanticipated problems" (Savery, 2005, pp. 146-147).
"Suggested [analytical] Strategies:
1) Provide smaller and more frequent assessments and spread assessment activities across the course. This strategy helps reduce test anxiety and provides learners with additional opportunities to process course concepts and content (Northedge, 2002).
2) Consider using face-to-face exams with your students for learning outcomes such as applied demonstration of skills that could only be assessed in this format. The University of Phoenix (http://www.uopxonline.com/) has satellite offices where students go in person to take a proctored final exam to determine their grade.
3) When using online assignments specify the format for completed work that will be submitted electronically by the students (font size, headers, margins, word processing application). Specify also the file naming conventions students are to use such as [lastname]-essay.doc as this will help you to sort submitted assignments using the alphabetized class roster.
4) Provide opportunities for students to evaluate the online course at the mid-point as well as at the end of the course. Reflection can foster an appreciation for accomplishments and afford an opportunity to clarify perceptions.
5) Provide clear expectations and guidelines for assessing participation. This can be in the form of assigned leadership roles for discussions of the readings or as an expectation for a minimum number of substantive postings to each discussion thread within a given period of time (Savery, 2005, p. 148).
Specific [Leader-by-example] Strategies:
1) Introductions – share information about yourself with your students both formally with a website that you have created or informally as part of the threaded discussions.
2) Follow-through with promises. If you commit to doing something (providing an online resource or grading an assignment) model responsibility by completing that task in the allotted time.
3) Model the WRITE WAY to communicate in an online environment. Share the strategies described by Lewis (2000) for effective communication in the largely text-based online class.
4) Utilize the public and private channels of communication to ensure that you are visible to your students – without dominating the conversations.
5) Plan for and implement an end of course activity to bring closure to the class, reinforce what was learned, revisit some high points in the course, and acknowledge the contributions by members to the success of the learning community" (Savery, 2005, p. 149).
