Effective Online Educators

In the rapidly growing world of online learning, it is easy for us educators to get caught up in the “how-to” and overlook building personal relationships that our online students so desperately desire to feel “seen” and motivated.

Among the most important strategies of online instruction is building relationships with our students. Numerous articles and scholarly research stress the importance of teacher-student relationships and building instructor presence, including this helpful article, Best Practices in Online Teaching, from Minot State University, which states simply, “Presence contributes to student motivation levels, fosters a sense of community, and successful student learning.” The first step to building relationships is instructor presence as well as student presence. If a student is not logging in and completing assignments regularly, we should try to find ways to reach out to them, such as using SchoolsPLP email and text notifications, to encourage students to log in and try their best.

I learned early in my career that even the smallest personal connection with a student can make a major impact! I majored in secondary education, and as part of my student teaching, I was required to complete an eight-week placement in a middle school setting. This was not my preference, as I had always planned to teach high school. However I walked through the door of that 7th grade classroom and hoped for the best. Before the class had even begun, I was warned about a specific student, let’s call him “Jay.” Jay was below grade level in skills, but above grade level in size! He had a challenging home life and I recall the word “nightmare” being whispered more than once. Needless to say, Jay embodied all I had heard. He was defiant, disruptive, and disrespectful to teachers and students.

One day, I noticed Jay drawing a picture instead of doing his independent work. I peeked over his shoulder and saw he was drawing a character from a well-known animated show that I also watched. With little conscious thought, I said something like, “Hey, cool, Dragon Ball Z. That’s really good!” For the rest of my time in that class, Jay and I were the best of friends! He was excited to show me new pictures he had drawn or talk to me about recent episodes. The frequency of his defiance diminished and instead he sought out moments to share with me his personal thoughts and feelings. My big takeaway was it took only one common interest and a simple interaction to completely change our relationship, and being such a novice teacher it wasn’t even intentional. Think about the power we educators have when we are purposeful in creating connections and relationships with our online students.

When teachers build strong personal connections with students we can leverage those relationships to encourage positive behaviors (e.g. “Can you just try it for me?”). If we don't know our students and our students don't feel like they know us, then there is little desire for them to "perform to please." Any feelings of disappointment or even approval towards a student's effort will have minimal effect on their motivation if they don't feel a personal connection. Also, if we don’t show interest in our students’ interests, they may be reluctant to reach out to us for help, and we may miss signs they are struggling or falling through the cracks.

Not only is it important for us to build teacher-student relationships, it is also important for us to offer opportunities for students to build relationships with their peers. This can be a challenge in an online environment, but Crystal O. Wong, EdD, the author of Building Relationships: How to Connect from a Distance, points out the success of “incorporat[ing] small group instruction (SGI). This type of instruction makes students feel they’re receiving personalized attention and feedback...Teaching small groups allows us to hear where students feel stuck and respond in ways that are not diminishing.” Even if we are not able to connect with students in small groups in-person or virtually, utilizing discussion activities inside SchoolsPLP is one way to encourage student sharing and collaboration.

Finally, Rebeca Elizabeth Alvarado Ramírez identifies in, “Top Tips for Establishing Close Relationships with Students Online,” an ubiquitous obstacle of virtual learning, “...always bear in mind that online learning experiences can be perceived as rather more cold and distant than in-person equivalents. As such, teachers should make extra effort to get closer and build relationships online that encompass taking care of students as people while also remembering learning objectives.”

As I learned through my experience with Jay, a little attention and empathy goes a long way toward building relationships that are integral to fostering a positive learning environment. Sometimes one comment can build or break a relationship, and the more conscious we are of the power we have when cultivating relationships, the more we can try to exercise the former and avoid the latter.

One way we build student relationships is through communication, both general and specific. In this list of strategies titled, Strategies for Providing Feedback in Online Courses, from the University of Illinois, Springfield, the author points out, “Students need much more support and feedback in the online environment than in a traditional course.” This list provides 15 specific strategies we can use to improve our feedback, including varying communication types, following up privately with individual students who do not respond to general messages, ensuring that feedback on student work is timely, and using positive reinforcement and messages of thanks and praise.

When teachers pay attention to student performance, like viewing the latest activity feed inside SchoolsPLP, it is easy to notice when a student earns a passing grade or performs well on a tough assignment. Seizing the moment right after a student turns in an assignment to send a message of positive reinforcement reassures them that we care. Timely messaging is also an efficient way to ward off apathetic student attitudes. The more specific and personalized we can be in our communication and feedback, the more effective it will be. “I see you got a 90% on your Unit 2 Test. Great job! Keep it up!” works better than the generic, “Great job!” In the journal article, Five Elements That Impact Quality Feedback In the Online Asynchronous Classroom, John Steele and Rick Holbeck state, “Personalization is the key driver for giving students feedback in a more conversational and personable tone that makes the content more accepting and constructive.”

We must also recognize that students need us to communicate ways to improve in addition to giving positive reinforcement. In this blog, Providing Effective Feedback to Students in Online Courses, posted by National University, we are reminded, “Actionable feedback provides greater value to students than generic feedback, such as “Nice work!” that does not lead to any reflection or analysis.” When students have not performed well on an assignment, specific feedback on how to improve, along with next steps, can go a long way toward improving student performance and engagement. Comments such as “Not acceptable,” or “Try again,” are not specific enough to promote student improvement. Instead, feedback such as “Good essays include an intro, body, and conclusion; this submission has a strong body but no intro or conclusion,” or “Please show your work on problem #3, so I can see which step is difficult for you,” is more helpful to both students and teachers.

With every assignment we grade and every connection we make, we become more knowledgeable educators in the dynamic world of online learning. By taking a moment to reflect if there are simple ways we can strengthen our relationships with our students or communicate more efficiently, we can become not only more knowledgeable, but more effective online educators, as well.