As someone who works in instructional design, humanizing the asynchronous course has always been at the top of my mind. Over time as our LMS becomes more and more capable, this aspect becomes easier to do! Something that I encourage my instructors to lead every class off with is an instructor introduction! As suggested by The Innovative Instructor Blog, this practice shows students there is in fact an instructor on the other side of the screen, humanizes them by sharing personal details and interests, and helps them become more comfortable in the course! The instructor we are working with is not super tech savvy, and that is okay! There is no need to be get fancy expensive equipment and a camera crew, simple videos are effective, and in fact, Michael Welsh explains how simple videos can actually be more engaging for students! With this in mind, we have explained that his videos do not have to be very fancy to engage students.

Similarly, we do not want students to feel that they are taking the course in isolation. At the start of the course before the first synchronous sessions, students will be instructed to participate in an introductory forum. As teaching in a digital age explains, communication forums on their own are not impactful unless logically designed. For this reason, we are planning to design the introductory forums to be multi modal, encouraging students to submit video posts using Moodle-supported Kaltura!

Kaltura Logo. Public Domain. Wikimedia

With these instructions, students will be able to create their introductions as quick videos, review their colleagues’ videos, and reply in either text, video or voice format! Recognizing that every student has different comfort and ability levels, there will also be options to complete this introductory forum in text, voice, or illustrative formats as well. This multimodal format will allow students to play to their strengths, and not feel limited by restricting them to one single form of submission. Along with instruction on how to complete the introductory forum, students are going to be provided guidelines around making these interactions more meaningful and engaging. With this in mind, students will be instructed to review their colleagues’ introductions and respond to at least two of them, making connections or asking follow-up questions. Students will also be provided guidelines for respectful conduct for the online discussion forums. These components and guidelines lead to engaging and meaningful online discussions according to the University of Waterloo.

Additionally, students will also have the opportunity to engage in synchronous conversation with each other and the instructor via the weekly synchronous zoom session. In these sessions the instructor will be monitoring breakout rooms where students will be practicing their German together. Students will be encouraged to help each other out in these exercises by giving feedback about pronunciation and understanding of the language to each other. Of course, the instructor will be taking part in this as well, as they will be cycling through the breakout rooms. The class will also participate in these activities together in the main zoom room when the topic enables it appropriate to do so! These weekly synchronous sessions will also add that human element as it will put a face and voice to the names of the people they interact with during the asynchronous activities! We have not yet decided if participation in these activities will be completely formative or if marks could be awarded for participation. Stanford department of education claims that these synchronous sessions will also lead to strengthened community building through interactions, and faster information exchange for students as they can ask questions in real time! I imagine that by the end of the course the zoom rooms will be so lively they might look something like this:

Lastly, we will be encouraging the instructor to post regular announcements and check-ins with students during the asynchronous time. The instructor will be encouraged to make these weekly announcements focused on topics that were brought up during the previous synchronous session. This will keep things relevant by providing additional resources and tips centered around the needs of the students. These regular updates are expected to further support that interaction component of the class by showing students the instructor is listening to where they need more help and is providing relevant resources to meet their needs! Dr Nathan Pritts explains how this is an important step in building relationships, and when students feel that they are heard, they are more likely to remain engaged in the class.

The combination of all these components should form an inclusive, engaging, and productive online learning environment with ample opportunity for the students and instructor to connect with each other!