Discussion Questions (Week 2)

1. What tools/techniques/strategies/approaches are you considering to connect with your learners? How will your choices impact student engagement, intellectual development, and develop personal connections?
   I am planning on using BigBlueButton for live interactions, since I will probably be running my course using a WordPress site, I will use the Disqus system for discussion forums. We will also exchange communication using e-mail. I will probably try to arrange a phone conversation with each student at some point during the course run. One of the things I want to implement is the class project. I am planning on asking the students to post, on a special forum I will create, on what is that excites them about this field of online teaching. Then I will probably try to get groups together with common ideas and preferences by introducing each student so that they can form groups or work alone, if preferred. I will arrange their work forum and let them work together without my constant monitoring, I will ask them to present me what they are doing in a live session later on. I will post once a week questions related to the material they will be reviewing for the week, but I will not be asking them to cover many topics since I am more interested in them spending time in their projects.
2. Rapport is not something developed by announcement. Rapport is developed by actions—the results from things you do. How can you actively apply the following 5 factors to build rapport with your online students?
   1. Respect. Teachers and students must show respect for each other, for the learning process, and for the institution where it is occurring.
   2. Approachability. Students have to feel comfortable coming to faculty and faculty must be willing to speak with students, during office hours, via email, on campus.
   3. Open communication. Faculty must be honest. There needs to be consistency between what faculty say and what they do.
   4. Caring. Faculty must care about students; they must see and respond to them as individuals. They also need to care about learning and show that they want students to learn the material.
   5. Positive attitude. Faculty should have a sense of humor and be open to points of view other than their own.
   I am very curious about this rapport concept. What I have seen in the university setting is that students look up at these old professors because they are experts in their field, it seems to me that is the only respect they have earned from the students. In many cases, classes are so large that it is almost impossible the teacher will ever be able to see all the students one by one, and he has to rely on teaching assistants to run the course. This happens in the online setting as well. So, the students get to know the TAs (teaching assistants) most of the time and relate to them more than to the instructor, some may even never set foot on the instructor’s office. On the other hand, when classes are small (usually at higher level courses) the instructor does get to know the students, talk to them in an informal manner, conduct classes in a more participatory way. I think at this level the student is mature enough to understand why they respect their instructor in this class, they feel they can approach the instructor at any time, there is usually open discussions that lead to great interaction, and the students get to understand that their teacher actually cares that they leave the class knowing something else. I think the first action I will take when online course opens is to conduct a live session where the students can participate and ask questions about the course and about me. I will present for 15 minutes on my background, why I am teaching the course, why the subject fascinates me, why I expect from each students in the form of class participation, this first interaction will help to show the students information on how to contact me during the day. I will make it clear they can call me when I am in the office, or e-mail me at any time. I will make the point that I am interested in knowing each student and I will make an effort to memorize their names so I can address them by their first name. I will make the case that no question is unimportant and that they need to speak up when they have not understood something from the material or the instructions to the class. I will make it clear at that point and during the semester that I will following the progress of each student to pick up any problems when I see that they are lagging in the course. I tend to be something like the devil’s advocate in many situations, always trying to account for extreme possibilities, which usually tend to be negative. I am changing that for my online class, I will carefully craft my responses to students so as to not sound negative or gloomy on my assessment on their work, or when they present to me their current progress in their projects.
3. Describe the challenges you have building rapport with online learners. Describe how you build rapport between yourself and your online students? Does it work? How do you know?
   I think my personality and the way I usually communicate might present a challenge to me but I am working on changing that for a more adequate style for the online environment. I am learning to be less judgmental when reading posting from students, I am always trying to read between the lines, maybe there is nothing there. I think the best way to build that rapport is by showing them that I respect their opinion and their ideas, I would express this in replies to their posts, after carefully reading their post I will try to ask some questions that will help me understand what they are trying to accomplish, but if it clear to me, I will praise their work, thank them for their effort and let them know I am looking forward to more postings from them. The best way to know if this is working is by monitoring the forums and see if the students respond to my comments, my questions, if the amount and depth of their posts is increasing and so on. I think I have to establish some kind of protocol to determine the success of my approach.
4. Surprisingly, it’s often not the energy, the appearance, or the mannerisms of the teacher that make us want to listen and engage, it’s rather whether or not we felt connected. How do you invite learners to connect with you in a shared mental space in ways that stimulates them to learn?
   I think the best time to achieve this is during the introduction process when the course is starting. I have to reach to each student to understand what they are expecting from this course and me. I would like to address all their questions at the beginning, talk informally about what they expect from this course and from me, and reassure them that I am here to help them in any way possible. This is also the time when I would set the ground rules for discussion participation. I want to create an introductory video about myself and why I think this a great course to take. Again, showing past experiences and interesting cases would create at least some amount of curiosity in them, which hopefully will compel them to start working on the course activities and materials.