Access and Knowledge of Technology. Many students live in basement suites, where Wi-Fi access is not ideal. In fact, several students were trying to save costs by accessing WIFI using the landlord’s internet service provider rather than paying it out of their own pocket. The same applies to online conferencing. As an educator, I assume that all students would have access to web camera given that they spend so much time in online chatting. The lack of access of technology has caused quite a bit of anxiety amongst students. While generation Ys and Zs may be spending lots of time on various social media platforms, I assume that they would be tech savvy. WRONG assumption. Many students have not been exposed to the technology and tools available in the education world. Basic skills such as uploading a file or even sharing a screen in Zoom seems arduous and challenging for them. Moreover, some students have recently decided to return back to college to further their career after stepping away from it for decades. Therefore, the education world is a totally foreign environment to them, let alone the technologies used at the college. In an online learning environment, all the information is posted on the internet. If students do not have access and the knowledge to access the technology, it is impossible for learning to happen. This is a basic need for the students in order for learning to take place (Moore, 2020). For students who are financially struggling to access such technologies, provide them with alternative resources that the college is able to provide.
Likewise, instructors like myself need to be fairly tech savvy. The lack of technology skills may also have an impact on student access to the learning materials. In the last two days during midterm exam, I encountered 5 incidents where students had technical problems while entering the data in Blackboard during midterm exam. Given that our CEIT is not available on call and that it was an exam, I had to troubleshoot the technical issues for the students. At one point, one of the students were almost in tears as they thought they had lost all their answers which they completed earlier in Blackboard. I had to reassure the students that all was under the control even though deep down I was equally fearful that all the data could be lost.
Technology also involves removing any roadblock to their learning. Students should not have to waste their time learning how to navigate from one course modules to another; or entering their answers into the learning management software. I made a mistake at the start of the course. I wanted students to create tables in the solution key on the test. One student was almost in tears when he realized he accidentally wiped out the tabled solution key he had created initially. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do at that moment. I could only offer him extend his test time so that he could enter his answers in Blackboard again. After this incident, I immediately corrected it. I spent hours learning how to create tables in Blackboard so that students do not have to endure this anxiety ever again.
Instructor’s presence and communications. Given that online learning is an independent and isolated activity, it is easy for students to go astray. Students need to feel you have their back for them. No, they are not asking you to do the work for them (although some may try). They want to know if there are issues, you are available to assist them or direct them to the appropriate resources. To do so, at the start of the semester, provide students with clear guidelines on where and how to communicate with you. As well, the expected turnaround time for responses. In addition, I will show students where they can get immediate online or technical help instead of relying on me solely especially on questions that I may not even have the expertise to assist them. “Research has shown that adequate quality and quantity of interaction between a student and their instructor is associated with increased student course satisfaction (Roddy, 2017). Other than providing clear communications at the start of the course, it has to be frequent using different media, such as emails, announcement page in Blackboard, sending out reminders. In a classroom setting, sometimes students do not even remember what you have just said to them five minutes ago. Let alone in an online world where they could be easily distracted with what’s happening in the internet.
Interactions
If we go back to the days of classroom setting, what makes learning complete and memorable are the interactions happening in the classroom or on campus. To overcome the feeling of learning on your own and the lack of instructor’s presence, interactions become paramount in an e-Learning environment. By creating an interactive learning space requiring students to solve real-life problems, students can teach one another which further reinforces their own learning. Also, if the content is relevant and applicable to their daily lives, students are more likely to be engaged and participate in the course.
References:
Moore, S. (2020, Mar 11). So You Want to Temporarily Teach Online. Retrieved from InsideHigerEd: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/03/11/practical-advice-instructors-faced-abrupt-move-online-teaching-opinion
Roddy, C. e. (2017, Nov 21). Applying Best Practice Online Learning, Teaching, and Support to Intensive Online Environments: An Integrative Review. Retrieved from Frontiers in Ediucation: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2017.00059/full
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