Online Teaching & Learning Online Instructor Get started at online.pmi.edu

What does it mean to teach online? How is teaching virtually similar to teaching in person? The content of an online course is the same as a face-to-face class. There are course objectives students must meet, and students are also required to read a text book. Just like a physical classroom setting, the instructor’s performance is integral to a student’s success in a course. Instructors are still a very valuable resource to students for the following: Answering questions Providing helpful resources Reminding them of upcoming due dates Grading school work Providing constructive feedback Actively engaging students in the course topics Providing students with relevant and current knowledge How is teaching virtually different from teaching in person? Since students aren’t required to show up to a class or log in a certain number of hours, students must be highly self-motivated and disciplined in order to succeed. While online instructors will not be giving lectures, they will be facilitating the students’ learning experience solely through e-mail and blackboard. Online learning allows instructors to interact with students more easily one on one or in small groups. It allows opportunities for individualized teaching to those students who need additional help. Online learning also makes it possible for instructors to access resources they might not have in the classroom, such as online simulations and animations. Communication Students and instructors communicate in the following ways: - Exchanging emails, - Posting on discussion boards, - Providing feedback on assignments, - And sometimes using a chat room. When you communicate with students, you must always practice good netiquette. Netiquette is a set of rules describing how to behave while online. You must keep in mind that the words you would say in person may not have the same meaning as they would if they were read in an email or on a discussion board.

KNOWLEDGE CHECKPOINT 1) Online instructors must facilitate a student’s learning experience by: (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)  Answering questions  Providing helpful resources  Reminding them of upcoming due dates  Grading school work  Providing constructive feedback  Actively engaging students in the course topics  Providing students with relevant and current knowledge How is teaching online different from teaching face-to-face? It requires that you address any comments only to the whole group. It’s harder to contact individual students in an online format. It allows students to access different resources such as animations and videos. It puts the information at the “head of the class” rather than the instructor. 3. Which of the following are ways to communicate with students one-on-one? (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY) Email Announcements Discussion board Phone Chat room Assignment feedback Where will online students find the information they need to complete their assignments? In lecture notes that the instructor posts In the textbook Within the online content None of the above Do we want to require them to get 100% before moving on? How many times should they be able to take this quiz?

Helping Online Students Succeed The following tips are designed to give students the best online learning experience possible. Encourage students to view the links within each lesson and topic. Supplemental graphics and videos give students a variety of ways to interact with the information. Interactive modules, such as practice quizzes, enable students to test their knowledge of material at their own pace without penalizing their grades. In some cases, PMI Online Education has found a direct correlation between students’ grades and the utilization of practice quizzes. Link new knowledge to prior knowledge. Students can grasp new concepts better by associating information that they already know with information that is new to them. For example, students who are having trouble understanding the concept of inflation could be asked to recall the price of a gallon of gas when they were in high school versus the current price. By relating new information to personal experiences, students are able to process and recall the new information better than if they were just asked to memorize a definition. Encourage students to find which learning modality works best for them. All students should read the textbook. While some do well in the class just by reading the textbook and the topic pages, other students may need more. Videos and tutorials appeal to students who are audio-visual learners and benefit from seeing or hearing what they have read. Practices quizzes and knowledge checkpoints help students gauge what information they are retaining and what information they need to go back and review. Require students to interact with both you and their classmates. Encourage students to engage with one another through discussions. Discussions should compel students to do some research on their own or share their experiences. When they respond to one another’s posts, it lets you know that they’re actively participating. Discussions enable students to learn from one another and become more familiar with one another. Remind students to email you with any questions. Be sure to give them a response time (such as 24 hours) so they will know when to expect a reply. Provide detailed and constructive feedback for both right and wrong answers. When you grade students’ assignments, let them know what was wrong with their assignment if they got something wrong. Or if they did well, let them know what they did right. Take feedback from the students themselves. Here are some things students liked about their instructors: “I liked how these teachers cared about how well a student did in the class.” “The professor was very good with feedbacks.” “I appreciated how quick the responses were and how quickly assignments were graded.”

KNOWLEDGE CHECK 1. If a student does poorly on the first quiz of the semester, what would you do? a) Email and ask if she had any questions on the content. b) Add a comment to the grade book warning the student to study more for the next quiz. c) In the comments, list some sections of the book and course the student should review. d) Nothing, it’s only the first quiz. 2. A student posts increasingly inappropriate comments to a discussion board. What would you do? Delete all of the posts Post a response warning the student that this behavior could result in academic probation Post a reminder to pay attention to netiquette Contact the student via phone or email to discuss the posts Replace the text in the posts with “Deleted by instructor” If a student emails and tells you he didn’t understand something he read in the chapter, what would you do? Direct him to the online topic for additional resources Tell him to re-read the chapter Email him selected text from the chapter to emphasize the important points Send him links to related videos or websites. Set up a chat time to go over the information 4. A discussion has been going on for a little while, and one student’s replies so far to her classmates mostly consist of the phrase “I agree.” What would you do? Remind everyone to look at the grading rubric, which details requirements for posts Give the student a 0 for that discussion board Post to the discussion board telling her she won’t get any credit for those posts Delete her posts 5. A student misses several questions on a preview assignment. How can you help him? Tell him which questions he missed Direct him to specific pages in his book and areas in the course Post his score in the gradebook so he can see how poorly he did List some general topics or concepts he might need to review to improve his score Do we want to require them to get 100% before moving on? How many times should they be able to take this quiz?

What is an instructor’s commitment to PMI and students? Maintain frequent and effective communication with students. - Respond to emails in a timely manner. - Actively participate in the discussion boards. Ask questions that will engage students. Help them understand the course material by relating it to current events or experience. - Maximize teaching opportunities by giving detailed feedback on students’ submissions. (Optional: Provide office hours via instant message) Remind students of important dates and other items. Use announcements to communicate with the class as a whole. Update announcements often and be sure use start and end dates. If students see the same announcement every day, they’ll assume it is always the same and will stop reading the course announcements altogether. Grade each assignment fairly and in a timely manner. Stay on top of managing preview assignments as well as actual assignments. Commit to the students’ success. If you notice that students are failing, ask how they’re doing and how you can help. Provide students with information about available resources for academic or personal issues. These resources include: - The Student Services Coordinator - The Help Desk - The Online Student Center - Tutoring Maintain frequent communication with the Online Education department. Communication is the oil on a well-oiled machine. Submitting a weekly report on time as directed keeps the Online Education department running smoothly. Your weekly report will allow us to identify any students that need extra help, or any errors that need to be corrected in the course material. And last but not least, never stop learning. Stay abreast of topics and issues within the course field, and commit to continuous learning of Blackboard and online teaching.

with these commitments? Do you agree with these commitments? If they click YES for all items, a certificate will print and they move on to PART 2: Technical Training If they click NO for any item, the next screen will thank them for their interest/time

Questions? online@pmi.edu Pima Medical Institute Online Send an e-mail to: online@pmi.edu If you have any questions or concerns about this tutorial, please contact the Career Services Placement Director at dvanscoyk@pmi.edu. To get started go to my.pmi.edu or click PMI Links in the upper right-hand corner. Pima Medical Institute Online