Every educator and every student that teaches or takes an online class knows that it is not always a simple process and you will find certain to be challenges along the way. From technology issues to time management, coping with the basics requires a focused effort to accomplish what’s required – and perform in line with the required expectations. And then there are occasions when the challenge of online learning goes beyond managing the requirements. For online educators it could involve addressing uncooperative students, students who don’t review their feedback and are unreceptive to constructive criticism, and students who don’t communicate in a respectful tone. They’re the problems that demand additional time and attention, and in many cases are related to feelings of frustration.
With an online class there are certainly a wide variety of students so it’s not possible to learn how to facilitate a class in a way that most people are a course in miracles review fully engaged and performing their very best. However, you will find strategies you can use when situations arise that involve significantly more than your typical instructional duties. But first it is very important to know the perspective of the instructor and their students, and why online classes become challenging. There has been an influx in the amount of people who’re enthusiastic about teaching online, especially those that are graduating from degree programs that specialize in teaching with technology, so it’s important to know how to proceed when a class or a student doesn’t perform as expected.
An Online Instructor’s Workload
A majority of online classes are taught by adjunct instructors. That means those who are teaching many of these classes are maintaining other responsibilities, the same as their students. And similar for their students, they’ve a certain timeframe devoted for involvement in their classes. When they’re online and working you will find specific tasks that must be accomplished. Every instructor hopes that students will be highly motivated, fully present when they’re in class, and have a mindset that is open for learning. But as instructors know, it isn’t always that way. Each time a student issue does arise it will take up valuable time and cause several other duties to be pushed back. So what can save time could be the development of a proactive arrange for completing the mandatory duties and establishing productive work habits. However, despite having the most effective plans in place some students can be unpredictable and that is when an instructor and their facilitation methods are challenged.
The Online Student’s Perspective
Students usually begin their classes from an optimistic perspective since it represents a fresh start. They hope that their new class is interesting and their new instructor is either just like the final class, or different if their outcome was not what they had expected. That underscores exactly why challenges arise – students have an expectation about their involvement in the training process and feel that instructors must comply with it. As students focus on the mandatory tasks they will make use of the same work habits from the final class and continue to perform in their most current pattern of productivity. If students are open to feedback and constructive criticism, that work method and way of formulating their posts and papers will be in flux – adapting when needed as a means of self-improvement. However, for those students who hold a belief that they know best how to perform, they are likely to feel challenged by anything their instructors have to say. How those students respond determines their involvement in class because it progresses, and they also have a choice – maintain appropriate control of these classroom behavior or become uncooperative.
How Online Classes Become Challenging
Online classes are inherently challenging for instructors because there is no visual and verbal connection. They need to maintain a very engaged presence should they are able to keep the class on track. Then there’s the challenge of reading students’discussion question posts and developing substantive replies. Feedback is another demanding requirement that is directly associated with students’progress and developmental needs. But those challenges are exactly the same for every class and with time instructors discover ways to address them in a highly effective manner. But student issues would be the challenges that become more difficult to deal with and resolve. It’s very easy for students to hide behind anonymity and believe they’re free to state what they like.
This indicates there’s a growing trend among students – people who do not have a filter on their communication and become aggressive, hostile, uncooperative, and defensive. There clearly was an occasion when a non-responsive student was my biggest challenge as an online educator. Now I find you will find students who’ve no issue expressing their feelings in an unprofessional manner. I’m still surprised when that takes place because I reflect upon the full time when I was an online student (not that long ago) and I really could not imagine talking to an instructor in an unprofessional manner. But it would appear that some students will establish their belief and expectation about learning and refused to change. It’s a predicament similar to this that needs a pre-planned strategy.
Strategies to Use When You Are Challenged
#1. Unresponsive Students: If you’re watching your class and monitoring students’progress, you realize when to intervene when you observe students who is off track. You hope that with supportive outreach attempts you can get them back on the best course. But if they do not respond, what would you do? The clear answer is never to quit and encourage them to contact to you through every option that you will allow or have established – including a phone call.
#2. Uncooperative Students: Here is the student who will not conform to any request that you have made. It doesn’t matter how small or significant the request was, you had reasons to make it. If the student is uncooperative the most effective approach is to send a message for them and ask for a reply. Additionally, ask for contact and express your fascination with their development and progress in class. The purpose is to neutralize any emotions that’ll arise by you or your students.
#3. Disengaged Students: Here is the student who is falling off the radar, who is not arriving for discussions, and/or may not be completing their assignments. The best approach for this kind of student is to keep up outreach contact attempts until they respond in a few manner. The objective of these outreach attempts is showing them that they are valued and you intend to assist them.
#4. Closed-Minded Students: Here is the student who not see the necessity to change and will not read or make use of the feedback provided in just about any form. One approach that you could take is to be very specific in the feedback provided and never change in your way of using that way of feedback. Within that feedback you can ask questions and encourage a dialogue with them. Make an effort to begin a connection so they eventually come to appreciate that the feedback provided is personalized and meant to greatly help them.
#5. Students with Unprofessional Communication: Here is the student who cannot interact with you without resorting to communication that is unproductive. It could involve a lengthy string of back-and-forth emails as the student tries to win their point of view. What direction to go in this situation begins with an answer that demonstrates a patient attitude and willingness to aid them. Offer a phone conversation so that the connection can be made without the use of email. When they refuse to contact you and continue with their inappropriate communication, remind them of the student code of conduct. You should also follow any protocol in area for contacting other individuals at your school as needed.
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