Education tips and articles » Interaction

Online Teaching Tips – How to Become a Successful Distance Learning Teacher

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:27:16 +0000

In many online classrooms, teachers need to work even harder at establishing an online personality as a part of their every day instruction.

Balance Your Time

Since online courses tend to move much more quickly than traditional classrooms, teachers need to integrate their instruction while relating to students on a class and individual level.

Shadow an Online Teaching Mentor

If possible, see if you can shadow an experienced online teacher for a period of time. Some online universities subscribe to this process of mentoring new online instructors.

Create an Approachable Student-Teacher Relationship

Many students can be intimidated by online learning. This means, the teacher needs to figure out what is the best way to present the information in a clear concise way so she or he comes across as approachable online. Students greatly appreciate it when you root for their success. You can do this in a variety of ways such as: posting welcome announcements with encouraging words such as “I’m rooting for your success” You can also send students a welcome email a few days before the class starts. It is also recommended to call students and make sure they are ready with all the necessary books and equipment before the course starts. Reassure students in informing them that you will return all emails and questions within 24 hours. Use the students’ first name in as many contexts as possible. This creates a more personal relationship.

Use Humor to Get your Point Across

Because online learning can be somewhat limited due to a lack of face to face interaction, it is important to work the interpersonal element as much as possible. Using gentle humor can be a good thing as most often, students who choose to study via online are often stressed by their own lives as well as keeping up with the course load. Technological problems often creep in as well.

Be encouraging in your tone

Using a conversational tone, it is possible to be encouraging even in the most difficult situations. Avoid using complicated language that is not clear and straightforward. Also, use as often as possible, encouraging statements like: “you did that very well” or “I see some really great improvements in this piece” which motivate students to do a good job.

Online teaching and learning can be enjoyable experience so long as a teacher is willing to adapt his/her teaching to suit the needs of a virtual classroom.

By: Dorit Sasson

Tips on Communicating With Difficult Parents

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:09:17 +0000

Communication with parents is one of the most difficult challenges a new teacher will face. The student teaching experience doe not adequately prepare new teachers for parental interaction and certainly does not prepare new teachers for the difficult parents.

Difficult parents are everywhere in every school district in every location of this country. Of course, you will run across the supportive parents, but the difficult ones will require some extra effort on mastering communications. Mastering the art of interacting with difficult parents means your first year of teaching will be a lot less stressful.

Here are a few survival tips on communication with difficult parents:

Listen Attentively

Event the most unreasonable parent wants to be heard. If a parent is berating you, respond in a manner that indicates you heard what they said. Calmly use comments like, “so, you are angry” or, “I understand why you feel that way, but….” Do this in a calm tone of voice and then listen to what happens to the parent’s tone of voice. In most cases, you will find the parent backing down.

Do Not Argue

Do not argue with an angry parent because this will send the message that the parent can push your buttons and that you are easy to control. As frustrated as you may be, maintain a calm tone of voice and you will find this will neutralize the situation rather quickly.

Do Not Accuse

Whatever you do, never accuse a parent of anything. You may be tempted to do this when dealing with the enabling parent who expects you to do everything for their child to the point where the child is no longer making an effort. State your case in a calm tone of voice and set specific boundaries that indicate where the teaching accommodation ends and the child must take responsibility.

Expect Respect

As much as you may not want to, respect the difficult parent and insist that they respect you in return. If the parent continues to be verbally abusive, remain silent and walk away, or suggest they return at another time when they can talk to you in a civil manner.

Maintain Eye Contact

Make sure you are eye level with the parent and do not hide behind any structural object during the interaction. This will send the message to the parent that you are not intimidated by the situation and you are confident in who you are and what you do.

Be Silent

A difficult parent is usually one who thrives on exerting power over others. If you react in the same manner, you are fueling the fire and further aggravating the situation. Remaining silent to their attacks is like denying a fire the air it needs to thrive; it will weaken the flame as well as deny the parent the attention they seek.

Remember that as a first year teacher you still have rights not to be treated as the rookie. In addition, your well being is essential to the success of what will be the most stressful year of your career.

By: J.C. Sprenger

4 Tips To Students Considering Online Education

admin — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 02:27:26 +0000

Many students choose to pursue online degree without evaluating their learning style and personality whether they will be successful as online students. Survey results show that many online students failed to complete their degree program mainly due to student’s personality issues. Earning a degree through online education may not be a right decision for all students. Here are 4 important tips to evaluate yourself to ensure you are a right candidate to success with online learning style.

Evaluation #1: Are your education success mainly depend on face-to-face interaction with instructors and classmates?

In online learning environment, most learning materials and communications are in text format, you need to adapt yourself to this type of learning environment if you want to success in this type of study. Many students who failed in their online study find themselves learn better in the courses that conducted in classroom-based. They prefer direct interaction with lecturer and face-to-face communication with their classmates.

If you education success or failure really depend of how the courses being conducted and you are not ready to change your learning style, then considering online education may not be your best option.

Evaluation #2: Do you often get things done ahead of time or you prefer to wait until the last minutes?

Self-motivation is very important in online learning because most of the courses and assignments are in self-paced form. You plan your own time that best fit into your schedule to logon to classes, do and submit your assignments. If you are the kind of person who always put on-hold your tasks to last minutes of dead line, then online education may not be your best choice.

Evaluation #3: Do you always need assistance when you are given written directions for an assignment by an instructor?

If you do, then you might have problem to understand instruction in text format. Most communications for online education such chatting, discussion board, email and downloadable materials are in text format. Although there are helps available if you need any assistance, most of your questions will be answered in email or posted text on the online discussion board. Hence, you need to be able to under text instructions if you want to benefits from the advantages of online education.

Evaluation #4: Are you good in time management & able to divide your time between your work, family and online study?

If you are a working individual who want to get a degree online without giving up your career, online education is good choice because the benefits in term of flexibility and self-paced learning style enable you to achieve both your career and education goal. But, for people who are not good in time management, they tend to lose their focus on their study if they are too busy with their career and family. That’s why many online students who are not able to allocate their time for study tend to quit without completing their online study program.

If the results of the above evaluation reveal a strong self-motivation and preference for a more independent learning environment, you may be an ideal candidate to take your degree online.

By: Julie Harvard

Disadvantages of Online Education

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:30:49 +0000

Although there are many advantages of an online education, there are also some disadvantages. The fact that you are working on your own could very well be one of the major disadvantages of taking online educational classes.

Consider the busy lifestyle of most people. Between work and family responsibilities, the average person has little time to dedicate to outside pursuits even when those pursuits could mean a better job, more money and better benefits. Simply finding the time to attend regular classes may be impossible so an online education becomes a viable option. But the same reason that online education is a great option – lack of time – is the very reason that online education is often difficult.

When you’re attending a traditional class, you go to school at a prearranged times. You are expected to be in class and you are forced to keep up with your instructor’s assignment schedule or risk failing the course. With an online education, there is probably no one checking your progress on a regular basis. You may be given some guidance along the way, but you and you alone are usually responsible for working your way through the course. Since you can work at your own pace, some people find themselves putting the work off until they don’t have enough time to finish the requirements.

If there are no time requirements, the opportunities to put off working on the material is even greater. You can literally go for weeks or months (or even years) without finishing the material to get credit for the course. You’ve paid for the opportunity to learn, but a lack of motivation is often the downfall of those who seek out online education.

Another major disadvantage is the lack of interaction. You aren’t in a classroom and don’t have the opportunity to hear questions and discussion from other students. This isn’t always an issue, depending on the subject of the online education course you are taking, but it could be an important factor in deciding whether an online education is the best option when seeking out opportunities for learning new skills or gaining new training.

By: Matt Norman