End of Part 2

Pedagogical Roles

This lesson provided us with 10 practices of effective online teaching:

• show up and teach
• practice proactive course management strategies
• establish patterns of course activities
• plan for the unplanned
• response requested and expected
• think before you write
• help maintain forward progress
• safe and secures
• quality counts
• (double) click a mile on my connection

These principles are important for both the student and the instructor to follow in order to have a successful online class. When you show up and teach you make sure you are available to the student to answer any questions about the course they may have while also providing them room to grow and develop their own understanding. This means asking probing questions in the discussion board that will have the student think from a different prospective.

By practicing proactive course management strategies, you are responding to student's discussion posts and acknowledging students who are not posting. This is showing the student the discussions matter and it is a part of their grade they should not take lightly.

Establishing a pattern for course activities means setting deadlines for when activities are to be completed. Such as when an initial posts and all follow-up posts should be submitted.

Planning for the unplanned is important because we are all humans and we can't control everything. If an instructor can't login to the course for a specified amount of time, they should notify their students immediately. If they can assign a back-up instructor that would be ideal.

Response requested and expected - I think the is very self-explanatory because we all know when students request a response they expect it as well. If an immediate answer is not possible because of limited access to a computer, let the student know and also let them know when they can expect a full reply.

Think before you write is important for both teachers and students. As teacher's we want to make sure we are providing clear expectations of the assignments and we also want to give clear feedback to students. We should also be careful of how are typed words may sound to a student reading them online, we don't want to offend anyone.

Helping maintain forward progress is done by providing feedback of student's assignments. Also by asking additional questions in student's discussion posts so they can think about the question from a different prospective.

Safe and secure means having all communication done inside the learning management tool. Having communication outside of the learning management tool is an inconvenience.

Quality counts is related to having course information that meets the teaching standard. This includes having up to date information, links that work, accurate course content, and ensuring no other course design issues.

(Double) click a mile on my connection rounds out the top ten by ensuring the instructor is able to operate at the same level as the student taking the course and when the instructor experiences the structure and functionality of the course the instructor can make adjustments and corrections when needed.

Social Role - Building Community 

Learning in community offers distinct benefits for students taking courses at a distance.

• Provides both social and academic support
• Lower dropout rates

Five Roles I Play in Online Courses

• Space Planner - provide clear instruction on course expectation and system use. Use an icebreaker.
• Pacesetter - Post times for when initial and follow-up posts are due.
• Host - Post a welcome, instructions, and encouragement to the group messages. Call or email students who are absent from the course or in need of additional help.
• Connector - make connections between students, course content, and between their work in and outside the course.
• Mirror - Provide clear feedback, assessment rubric or written work and provide feedback of the course so changes can be made when necessary

Ice Breaker

According to Soren Kaplan "many consultants and trainers facilitate "warm-ups" or "ice breakers" to kick off meetings, the goal being to establish norms, ground rules, and an esprit de corps among participants."

Ice breakers are an important part of building community in online courses. They give the students the opportunity to become familiar with one another while learning how to navigate the online class.

Managerial Role

Setting the Stage 

Managerial role involves setting the stage for your online class. This includes providing the layout of the course. Most facilitators accomplish this by providing a syllabus and orientation page. Some other pages I would use an online facilitator are below.

Welcome Page – I think the welcome page is important for students because it sets the tone for the class. This will introduce myself as the instructor, have a picture of me so they can put a face to the name, and also a message to the class which introduces the course and what is expected. It will also provide instruction on the first week’s content and clear detailed instructions.

Course Syllabus – The course syllabus will outline the course objectives, materials needed for the course, scheduled topic dates, disability statement, and instructor contact information.

Course Calendar/Due Dates – Course Calendar will have which weeks each topic is discussed. It will also have important due dates of discussions posts, responses, and other assigned work

FAQ’s – Frequently Asked Questions will have questions and answers of the most frequently asked questions from past classes.

Links to tutorials for course content – As facilitators we must make sure the student has the proper access to links that will allow him or her to be successful in an online class. Providing links to tutorials for blackboard whatever your school utilizes will help with this.

The Managerial and Technical Roles - After the Class Begins

The managerial and technical roles are important for facilitators to stay on top of because there is a possibility the links will not be active during the weeks they are needed. There is a constant need to check the week’s content before the week they are made available. It is also important to make sure students stay up to date on course announcements.

During this week we were required to read a week's diary of a facilitator. I was shocked to see how often the facilitator was online throughout the week. There was not one day the facilitator didn't log in to the online session to check for emails and/or discussion questions. I see the amount of work needed to facilitate an online class and it makes me even more excited to complete this certificate program.