Article cites study showing lower completion rates with online students

I posted this on LinkedIn, but I think it bears repeating here. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published an article that says students in online courses are more likely to drop out than students in tradition courses.

It's hard to speculate on the reasons for this without seeing the full study, but from experience I can definitely say that the technology can be a huge barrier. I have yet to see an excellent Learning Managment System that is simple and user friendly, though it can also be the fault of the way the school inputs their materials. I would say this and the fact that online courses tend to be more work are the main two reasons, with the lack of connection running a close third. These are all solvable problems. If you replace some of the reading with audio or video lectures, for example, it would help students who struggle to read dense material. Having an introductory online training and orientation for new students would help with the technology issue, as well as keeping the course design as simple and clear as possible. You can even increase the connections in a class by having some fun off topic chats in a separate discussion thread (have students share favorite movies, books, recipes, etc... and participate in the discussion with them).

Just some ideas! I think this article provides an opportunity for us to discuss how to improve the distance learning experience, and thereby retention, of our students.

Reading to Write

Recently, I was at a conference where a professor was arguing for a required “Great Books” course that every freshman would take. He was lamenting the poor grammar and writing ability of incoming students, and believed that requiring them to read the masters would improve their own writing. He finished by recommending books for this course, including titles by Chaucer, Milton, Melville and others. While I agree with his premise that reading good writing helps create good writers, his plan is a recipe for disaster. One thing we should have learned by now is that forcing people to read books they don’t like turns them off reading completely. No one but English majors should have to read the authors I listed above. As a freshman, I could hardly stand to read Chaucer and I WAS an English major!

The purpose of this post is to emphasize the importance of helping your introductory writing students find good models for them to follow; ones that they will actually enjoy reading. Most everyone will be able to find something they enjoy, once they agree to give it a try. To do this, early in your course, have students post a snippet of their favorite piece of writing. If they don’t have one, tell them to go find one and provide them some lists of great books for reluctant readers. Lots of libraries have these lists.

Once the students have identified the pieces, have them discuss what makes these examples so good. Have them look at the descriptions being used, the language the writer has chosen, and the overall sentence structure.

It’s important to note that they will not necessarily improve automatically from this exercise, but if you have them perform it for each example essay, story or book excerpt they read for the class, it will begin to sink in. Who knows, some of them may even begin to enjoy reading!

First Step- Connecting with your Students

Think back to when you were a new college student. Do you remember feeling intimidated, even a bit scared? Online education is no different. While the computer provides a bit of anonymity for the student, it also can create an enormous amount of confusion for a new student. Some LMS programs aren't the most user friendly.

One of the keys to keeping your students engaged in the class is to connect with them on a personal level. The greatest drawback to online education is how impersonal it can be. Courses are designed for efficiency, not socializing. Most online courses attempt to integrate some sort of social aspect beyond just the required class discussions, but these tend to fail unless the instructor directs them.

Following are some tips for connecting with students and helping them adjust to online education:

1. Have students post a bio and do your best to comment on each bio posted. In large classes, this may be difficult, but you should at least post in the bio thread that you've read them and that the class size prohibits responding to them individually.

2. At the end of the first week, email any students who have not yet participated to see if they are experiencing problems with the course. Sometimes students don't know what to do and are afraid to ask the instructor.

3. If one doesn't exist, create a social thread just for fun that students can post to. You can make it related to the course ( a writing course could have a fun discussion about great books everyone is reading), or you can make it simply a place to mingle and post things like a movie review, favorite recipe, and so on. This thread may be ignored, though, so as the instructor you should post to it regularly so students will jump in as well.

4. Have a picture of yourself with your bio, and invite students to post a picture of themselves with their bio. This helps both you and them view each other as more than just screen names.

5. Finally, create an introductory podcast so students can hear your voice. I like to post a short weekly lecture this way as well. It helps if you can refer to other student's posts in your podcast, as it helps reinforce you are paying attention. This does make it harder to re-use the podcast for other courses, though, so it depends on how much time you can devote to your course.

These are just a few. I'd love to hear other suggestions as well!

Welcome!

Over the past few years, I have been more and more involved in teaching college writing through online learning systems. I've learned a lot, and have more yet to learn, about the best strategies for educating students through an online environment. While there has been much debate about the quality of learning through an online classroom versus a traditional one, there is no debate that online learning is here to stay. Even traditional universities and colleges are launching online and blended programs. The ability to attend class from whereever and whenever a student's situation allows is more than just a convenience. For some, it is the ONLY way they would be able to do so. This fact alone makes online learning a valuable tool.

But, back to the quality issue. Do students who take online courses have to settle for a lower quality education, or does the platform in which the student partipates have little or no effect on the quality of their experience? The answer, unfortunately, is that it depends. The dedication of the student, the quality of the course design, the ease of use of the learning management system (LMS), are all factors. However, with the exception of the LMS, these factors also exist in the traditional classroom. This is also true of the most important factor of all: the quality of the instructor. It is primarily this last factor that this blog will address, though I will also discuss the other issues as well, since they all connect in various ways. And, given that I am by no means the sole expert in this area, I hope others will share their tips and thoughts as well. Hopefully, we can all share ideas that will further help retain and educate our students.