Unit 1 lecture summary

1. LEARNER AND INSTRUCTOR CONTACT
Encouraging contact between learners and instructors, and developing reciprocity and
cooperation among learners, are essential in an online course, where learners can easily
feel isolated. Interaction between learners and the instructor promotes a successful online
learning experience and motivates learners by keeping them engaged. Contact between
learners and instructors may include emails, announcements, screencasts, synchronous
meetings, and feedback. Promoting your personality through the use of voice–whether that
voice is literal, as in a screencast, or virtual, as in an email to learners–will help build a
connection to you. As instructors in the traditional classroom, we all have unique traits that
we capitalize on to make our content come alive for learners. Think about what unique
traits you bring to the classroom - is it your sense of humor or your unique ability to convey
a topic in simple terms? How can you best convey those traits to your learners?

2. LEARNER AND INSTRUCTOR CONTACT
Instructors visibility in the online classroom is also important as you build relationships with
your learners. The Creating a Sense of Instructor Presence in the Online Classroom article
recommends the use of announcements, a prepared introduction of your biography, an
introductory video, and screencasts or podcasts to create your instructor presence. Weekly
announcements that provide just-in-time guidance for learners can be strategically placed
within the classroom to help with difficult content or large assignments. A instructors
introduction that includes some personal content - an anecdote about pets, a favorite
vacation spot, a hobby, or even favorite foods - can make a connection with learners and
make them more comfortable when they need to approach you with a question.

3. LEARNER AND INSTRUCTOR CONTACT
Responding to learners is also essential in an online course. The College guideline is that
faculty respond to learner communications within 24 hours, even if the response is merely
an acknowledgement that a communication was received. Clearly communicate your office
hours and availability. Consider setting aside time each day to respond within your courses’
discussion forums, and respond a minimum of 3 days per week. Take the time to infuse
each communication with your voice. If you find yourself explaining certain concepts
frequently or having similar questions about one particular assignment, consider creating a
way for learners to obtain that information without requesting it from you. A clearly written
instruction sheet in the form of a PDF, or a short screencast (or podcast) about a difficult
topic might save you and your learners’ time. Screencasts and podcasts can be used again
and again and are an excellent time investment for online instructors.

4. ACTIVE LEARNING
This unit will also delve into active learning strategies, and you will create or modify an
assignment in a current course from passive learning to an active learning process.
Passive learning, such as listening to a lecture, does not require much effort on the part of
the learner, and consequently is not meaningful in the learning process. With active
learning, the learner is directly involved with the content and constructing meaning while
learning. You can find examples and strategies for active learning through the Active
Learning - Center for Educational Innovation site, such as:
• Discussion: utilize case studies and scenarios to allow learners to apply what was
learned, and provide multiple correct answers or solutions that are shared with their
peers through dialogue
• Application Activities: including statistical activities that utilize random items like
candy for math courses, or the use of tools like oven mitts to simulate disabilities for
future educators
• Collaborative work with peers: including peer review of large projects, brainstorming
as learners begin to select a topic for a large project, or collaboration for projects that
are particularly difficult

5. ACTIVE LEARNING
Additionally, the Active Learning - Center for Educational Innovation addresses challenges
that exist in active learning, such as:
• Learners resist engaging in the activity
• Active learning may be time consuming for the student, and cumbersome to instructor
planning
• Learners avoid working in groups

6. FEEDBACK
Providing feedback to learners is another opportunity to infuse your voice into the
classroom and allow learners to monitor their progress. Revak (2014) noted that “research
supports corrective feedback as one of the most powerful ways of enhancing learner
achievement (Angelo & Cross, 1993; Marzano, Pickering & Pollock, 2001; McKeachie,
1994)” (para. 7). Best practices include providing each learner with a paragraph that
describes what they did correctly and incorrectly. Focus on the work without making
assumptions about the learner. For example, a statement such as “Be sure to read each
chapter” makes an assumption that the learner did not read the chapter—when the learner
may have read, but not comprehend, the material.

7. FEEDBACK
The Strategies for Providing Feedback in Online Courses article provides a variety of
advice for feedback in the online course, such as:
• Communicate grading policies clearly to learners at the start of the term.
• Set virtual office hours and post the times and meeting link in each course.
• Reach out to learners who aren’t attending in order to change their behavior or
illuminate problems, such as learners who didn’t know they were enrolled.
• Send a weekly summary to struggling learners in order to assist them with progress
monitoring. These informal summaries can be invaluable to a learner who doesn’t
understand the severity of earning a zero or the impact of avoiding assignments that
add up to a significant percent of the overall course. They may be as simple as
sharing observations not directly related to one assignment, such as “Responses to
classmates comprise 5% of the overall course, and may help you understand the
content as you participate in discussions.”

8. EMPHASIZING TIME ON TASK
Prior to assigning resources and readings for learners, consider the time commitment
needed to complete those tasks. How essential is each resource? In Wesley’s (2016)
article Do You Assign Enough Reading? Or Too Much? he suggests that instructors
provide learners with a reading prompt to “give students a sense of what the next assigned
reading is going to be about, what challenges they may face in reading it, and what ideas
are crucial to better understanding it” (para. 14). Additional items to consider:
• The level of the learners
• The timing of the assignment - do learners have a weekend or a week to read, and
what is the learners’ energy level based on the pace of the term and holidays?
• The difficulty of the text

9. COMMUNICATING HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Be explicit in your expectations for learners. In an onground course, learners can pick up
on cues as they listen in to other learners’ questions, as well as your responses to those
questions. Learners in an online course may make assumptions that can negatively impact
their progress. Revak (2014) recommends the following techniques in her article A Rising
Tide Lifts All Boats: Raising, Communicating, and Enforcing Expectations in Online
Courses:
• Infuse advice from past learners into the start of the course.
• Assign an extra credit project that involves course expectations.
• Embed a code into assignment feedback with the lure of extra credit for learners who
email that code back to you.
• Provide similar incentives to learners who demonstrate active engagement within the
discussions.

10. RESPECTING DIVERSE TALENTS AND WAYS OF LEARNING
Sometimes the concept of retrieval gets a bad “rap” in education. In Make it Stick, cognitive
science researchers Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel (2014) stated that “effortful retrieval
makes for stronger learning and retention” (p. 43). This means that when a learner
struggles with information, the learning is remembered better, or as Brown put it, “sticks
better” (p. 43). Quizzes and tests are one way to check the ability of a learner to retrieve
important information. Consider quizzes and tests without times or with longer times, in
order to allow learners to realize what they need to study and return to the quiz again. At
Laboure College, utilizing timed assignments can be detrimental to learners who are not
fluent in English. Consider quizzes and tests as checks of knowledge in lieu of a summative
assessment that will determine what was learned over the course.

11. REFERENCES
Brown, P., Roediger, H., and McDaniel, M. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful
learning. Harvard University Press/Belknap.
Revak, M. (2014). A rising tide lifts all boats: Raising, communicating, and enforcing
expectations in online courses. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-
education/rising-tide-lifts-boats-raising-communicating-enforcing-expectations-online-
courses/
Wesley, C (2016). Do you assign enough reading? Or too much? Retrieved from
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Do-You-Assign-Enough-Reading-/237085