Humanizing the Online Environment:

 Discussion Topic - Humanizing the Online Environment


These are some of my favorite take-aways from this module on this topic that I will be incorporating into my online course.



Pacansky-Brock, Michelle (2015). How to humanize your online class. https://brocansky.com/2015/04/infographic-how-to-humanize-your-online-class.html




Towards a Pedagogy for Video

Video is becoming ever more prevalent and accessible within online learning environments (Bonk, 2008). Humanizing the integration of video requires the application of critical digital pedagogies in order to locate, integrate, create, annotate, collaborate, and curate video resources. Exploring tools and applying production tips can enhance persona and humanize the process and products of learning.

Learning and instruction within online spaces are shifting toward the incorporation of critical digital pedagogies. A critical digital framework has implications for academic engagement and curriculum delivery (Hinrichsen & Coombs, 2013). 

Locate – Finding, analyzing, and using quality video for online course content can be time-consuming and confusing. Students and instructors can apply search parameters to university and publisher collections, user-created open community collections, publicly funded and organizational collections (museums, libraries), and shared video repository sites (Vimeo®, YouTube®). Focusing on variety, engagement, and topic content within the search framework will guide the video selections. Some location options include:

https://humanmooc.pressbooks.com/chapter/using-video-to-humanize-online-instruction/

 

Conclusion

Humanizing teacher feedback with audio and video content is a complex problem requiring a systems view. Models for managing and prioritizing humanization within digital learning spaces will continue to evolve. While mechanization and computer control in online learning environments are increasingly designed into learning and teaching pathways, the application of audio and video feedback will return the focus onto human to human interactions in these digital spaces. Presenting a human face to feedback content, strategies, and sequences will continue. Increased availability and improved affordances of production tools will support the development of teacher expertise. As a teacher in online learning spaces, it is an exciting time to focus on the human face and voice in feedback messages.

https://humanmooc.pressbooks.com/chapter/voice-and-video-instructor-feedback-to-enhance-instructor-presence/

 

Best Practice 2: Create a supportive online course community

A good strategy for developing a supportive online course community is to design a course with a balanced set of dialogues. This means designing a course so that the three dialogues of faculty to student, student to student and student to resource are about equal. In most online courses, the dialogue of faculty to student is provided with (1) mini-lectures in text or video or audio podcasts, (2) weekly coaching and reminder announcements and (3) explanations/interactions with the students.

Here are three strategies that can be used to encourage peer-to-peer, student-to-student engagement and thus the building of a course community. Note that an online instructor wants to develop three types of presence:social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive/content presence.

  • Launch the class with a personal introduction posting so that students can get to know one another and you get to know “where students’ heads are.” The types of info often shared by faculty and students include info on professional experiences, personal information such as family/friends/pets, and a photograph. Faculty also often include a note about their teaching philosophy and research projects.

  • Encourage use of a general open student forum for students to post and request help and assistance from each other through the various student-to-student tools, such as discussions, help areas, etc.

  • Set up small groups where students can assume responsibility for supportive mentoring of fellow students and summarizing key points of a class assignment. The students might work in groups of 2, 3 or 4. This strategy is similar to a study group.

  • Set up problem-solving forums or discussions boards, and assign students or student teams to monitor and support or direct questions.

Note: Learning within the setting of an online course community will work better for some students than for others. Some students may choose not to participate very actively at all; other students find it is the best way for them to learn in an online setting. The point of this is that for those students who need it, it is an essential part of how they learn. Vygotsky’s theories remind us that we learn as social beings within a social context. The online community is part of what makes this happen for some students.

http://designingforlearning.info/writing/ten-best-practices-for-teaching-online/

 

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