United We Learn

One of the best aspects of classroom learning is that you know all your fellow classmates are going through the same experience you are. If there’s ever anything you’re struggling with you’re certainly not alone. You can build relationships with your classmates and your teacher as time goes on, and over time develop a real “No one left behind” sense of comradery. Replicating that in an online space, well that’s a whole different beast. You’re not seeing each other on a daily basis, you’re not hearing from each other on a daily basis. In fact, if students can work at their own pace, then you might not even be at the same point in the class as everyone else. This can remove the sense of community and make it feel like you’re taking the course all on your own. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There are plenty of ways to make education in an online space just as connected if not more. Ways that Rhett and I will be incorporating into our German 111 course.

The first big help is that the course we are designing is not fully online but rather is being offered as a blended course. There will be a weekly synchronous zoom session. All of my master’s courses so far have provided one weekly session. Just seeing everyone for that brief period each week is a good reminder that we have a whole support group if we struggle with anything at all. Hopefully German 111’s weekly sessions can have the same result. The weekly sessions will be a place for students to ask the instructor and each other questions about each week’s material. In language courses there are typically four main aspects: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. If a student is struggling with either the reading or writing portions, then they’ll still be able to message classmates or their instructor throughout the week for help. Trying to communicate challenges with the listening or speaking portions however is a daunting task when only using a text-based form of communication. This is where the weekly synchronous sessions become vital.

Also, the synchronous sessions aren’t just for questions but will simultaneously be used to split students into breakout rooms so that they can practice spoken word exercises most often found in the class textbook. I remember taking French classes back in high school and the night before a quiz I would get one of my parents to read some French words so I could practice my listening skills. Sometimes I would get stuck on a word because I didn’t know it, other times I would get stuck on a word because they were pronouncing it incorrectly. Practicing with someone who’s not actively learning the language with you is bound to have its issues, but these in class practice sessions are helpful for everyone. The listener gets to hear the words coming from a new voice thus improving their listening skills. The speaker gets to practice their pronunciation and receive immediate feedback if they require improvement. And for students who are a little shy or are afraid to reach out to classmates to study together these sessions give them the opportunity to still get practice opportunities without needing to step outside of their comfort zone. Who knows, it may even lead to them finding a partner they’re comfortable practicing with outside of the synchronous sessions.

Stepping outside of that comfort zone can be tough in an online university course. It’s likely students will know almost none of their classmates before the course begins. That’s where the usefulness of an “introduce yourself” forum comes in handy. While this does come up in Building Community in an Online Course, it’s just common practice for the courses we develop at the Flexible Learning Division. As a team there are some things we try to ensure are in all the courses we develop, one of which being a way for students to introduce themselves to one another and to their instructor. This is especially helpful in fully online courses to remind both students and instructors that there’s an actual person on the other end of the screen. In German 111 we plan to encourage students to submit their introductions to the forum in video format. This will strengthen the sense of community by allowing each other to put names to  faces and personalities rather than just words to a name. The video format has worked great in a few other courses we’ve used it in and other people in the field of education, such as Michael Wesch, seem to like it as well. If a student would prefer not to post a video of themselves they will be encouraged to find a different unique form of introduction such as an audio recording or whatever creative idea for expression comes to mind, leaving a text-based introduction as a last resort.

Finally, because Rhett and I are not the instructors for the course we will need to take some time to essentially instruct the instructor on ways they can improve the course community. Once again referencing Building Community in an Online Course, there are many things an instructor can do to keep their students engaged in the course. First off make things exciting. Students will without a doubt quickly become disinterested if the information is being presented in a monotone voice slowly going from one word to the next. If you want to keep the students engaged, then you have to liven things up. Look at Duolingo for example. The reason it’s one of the most popular language learning apps is in large part due to its colorful & vibrant design, its use of imagery in every exercise, and its joyful characters that get excited when learners succeed. Secondly, it’s important to be outside of the weekly sessions. Sometimes when a course is being delivered with pre-recorded lectures an instructor can get the feeling that the only real teaching that needs to happen is during the synchronous sessions, and this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Students can tell when their instructor isn’t really there with them. By posting frequent check-ins, reminders, and feedback it reinforces the knowledge that the instructor is there with them and wants to see them succeed.

These ideas and more will ultimately lead to a more successful course. Unfortunately, the instructor gets the final say in how the course will run. All we can do is recommend these things, not enforce them. Hopefully we can be persuasive enough when stressing the importance of building community that the instructor will see its value. Thankfully, the instructor we’re working with is very open to our ideas, so I’m positive he will heed our advice and try his best to ensure everyone feels like an active part of a semester-long learning experience.