by Katie Heiles, 7-12 English Teacher
and
Victoria DeRoner, 7-12 Social Studies Teacher
As commonplace with any job, when you start your online teaching adventure, you’re probably given a generic course that someone else created. That course may (and probably will) lack any kind of personality, and as you fall into your own groove with your teaching, you will probably also fall out of favor with the course set up. This is when overhaul happens, and when overhaul happens, you tend to come to “Ah Ha!” moments of epiphany about your courses and your teaching.
After almost 10 years of teaching in the online environment, we have come to the realization that there has to be a different set of instructional best practices than most teachers are familiar and/or comfortable with.
These realizations come mostly from frustrations - frustrations about the course design, about the student dynamic, and about our limitations given the cyberspace environment.
First and foremost, when a course is designed without heart, and with only a purpose to present information and ask students to reproduce it, it lacks personality and functionality. It becomes repetitive and very two dimensional. Often, students are required to access multiple resources in different places, leaving them feeling disorganized and lost.
Understandably, this will lead to a lack of engagement. If we understand that our students are digital natives, then we must understand that they are “accustomed to the twitch-speed, multitasking, random-access, graphics-first, active, connected, fun, fantasy, quick-payoff world of their video games, MTV, and Internet are bored by most of today’s education, well meaning as it may be” (Prensky). This means a boring course is not going to pique their interest, or keep their focus.
We also need to realize the reality of our online student population. We have students with drastically different learning styles and needs. Some students may be able to read and recall without an issue, but what about the auditory or visual learner? They need, and very much deserve differently formatted learning activities. These are just a sampling of the frustrations that led to making significant changes in the way we choose to format our courses:
Through a combination of technology conference workshops, a better understanding of the SAMR Model, and our own trial and error, we came up with the acronym, MORE VOICE. We now use this model as a guide in implementing necessary changes to improve the learning experience for our students.
- Multimedia
- Options
- Relevance
- Embed
- Visible
- Organization
- Instructions
- Choice and creativity
- Expectations
Multimedia:
As online teachers of digital natives, we need to use multimedia tools whenever available. Having a lesson on a white background with black text only, will not engage our students. They need images, videos, audio, and interactivity in their lessons.
Options:
Our students need options in case something doesn’t work for them. For example, if they don’t have a strong internet connection (an obstacle many of our students face), there needs to be a backup plan. Instead of just providing a link to an interactive magazine they can flip through, we need to also provide a link to just a pdf copy. Or, if you’re asking students to watch a video, maybe provide a reading and study guide as an alternative.
Relevant:
Our lessons need to be relevant. We need to find ways to connect it to their lives, interests, or something they are familiar with.
Embed:
If something in the lesson can be embedded, do it! When in doubt, embed. This takes away the need for students to click out of the lesson and to another site. In addition, they will be less likely to get lost in the process, or accidentally be viewing content that isn’t part of the lesson. Embedding removes barriers, and makes the course more accessible for all learners.
Visible:
We, as teachers, need to be visible as often as possible. Our students need to see us, whether it’s using our webcams during live classes, or creating instructional videos for asynchronous days that show our faces and our personalities. If video isn’t an option they need to, at the very least, hear our voices. Our students deserve to be able to make that human connection and know that we are not robots. This will help foster a positive student-teacher relationship.
Organization:
Not only does there need to be organization within individual assignments, but we also need to have consistent organization across all lessons. In following a consistent structure, the students know what to expect and can move through their lessons with confidence. This means text should be formatted consistently across the course, and day to day lessons should follow the same outline or structure throughout the course.
Instructions:
Due to the barrier of the online environment, our instructions need to be extra clear to students. This is especially true of the asynchronous lessons that require them to move through the content without teachers right there with them. Teachers need to consider various learning styles in creating their instructions and ensure they are meeting accommodations of students with IEPs. Lessons should not be “scroll worthy”. If there is too much, find a way to cut back or chunk the information better.
Choice and Creativity:
Providing students with choice and the ability to be creative is another way to foster engagement and student success. Planning lessons that allow for this will be beneficial to students.
Expectations:
Students need clear and consistent expectations regarding what they need to do. The teacher’s expectations should be transparent and explicitly stated for students in the lessons. This also means grading practices and feedback should match the expectations so that students are never guessing how they will be assessed.
MORE VOICE is not about the the course revolving around the teacher or the content. It is about humanizing online courses, so that our students feel as though they are part of a real learning opportunity, and understand that there is a real life, breathing and caring teacher on the other end of the monitor, who wants nothing more than to see that student succeed, because their success is our success.
#TogetherHappensHere.
For some of our favorite MORE VOICE tools and resources, see the links below:
- Screencast-o-Matic - record screen share directions
- Youtube - create and edit webcam videos
- Powtoon - create animated video lessons
- Quizlet - create flashcards, study games, and study sessions
- Studystack-create flashcards and study games
- Kahoot- create online review games
- Quizizz- game style formative assessment
- Vocaroo - record audio directions
- Padlet - create online bulletin boards
- Prezi - create interactive presentations
- Ed Puzzle - edit and add questions to Youtube videos
- Classtools.net - Create vintage style games and other interactives
- Zondle - Online review game generator
Works Cited
Prensky, Marc. “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently?” On The Horizon 9.6 (2001). Print.
“How The SAMR Model Improves Teaching With iPad.” Learnmaker. 12 April 2015. 9 Feb 2016.<http://learnmaker.co.uk>