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| by *Psycho Delia* CC-BY-NC |
I often hear faculty debate the challenges of teaching with emerging technologies at the community college level. Community college classes are the epitome of diversity — in any given class you are likely to find a mixture of students who are learning English as a second or third language, students with known and undiagnosed cognitive learning disorders (dyslexia, dysgraphia, etc.), students who have not yet passed basic skills requirements, students at advanced levels of learning, and students who are facing unimaginable economic challenges and other forms of personal hardships. These diverse student groups also hold some of the most stunning, life changing teaching experiences an educator could ever dream of.
Generational diversity is often cited by instructors as a significant challenge when implementing emerging technologies. While younger students aren’t always “savvy” in technology, as trends like to generalize, older students have more fear and skepticism about technology and that can create additional obstacles for success and challenges for facilitators. How can these be remedied? Or can they? What concerns can an instructor mitigate and what accountability falls squarely on the students? And what is to be gained from having our older students overcome their technological bias or disinterest? Will they acquire skills that will make them more employable in our digital, mobile society?
Learning from Diane
Last January, as I prepared for the spring semester of my online class, I reflected on one student from my previous fall semester class. Her name is Diane (and I use her real name here with her permission). Diane has shared with me that she is in her late 50s (and given me permission to make that known too). Her age is important to this story, as she is not part of the typical digital native generation.
Before enrolling in my online class, she had successfully completed many online classes. These other online classes were designed in a traditional course management system and used the built-in discussion board as the nexus of interactivity between students. By the end of week one of my online class, I had secretly tagged Diane as a “high risk” student and I was seriously concerned that she might drop. I have my students complete at online survey that allows them the option to share with me how they are feeling about the class. Diane shared that she was nervous and unsure about using the social tools integrated into my class. I emailed her directly, making an effort to reassure her that I was there to help but I could sense she was skeptical.
My online class is not exactly traditional and it’s common for the design of the class to disrupt student expectations. That is why I pay extra close attention to my students’ nerves and anxieties in the first couple of weeks. I use the course management system but only as a place for students to authenticate, access their list of course assignments and due dates, review their scores, ask questions in a general course Q&A forum, and read my private feedback about their assignments.
The core of the students’ learning occurs in two external web-based tools called VoiceThread and Ning. In VoiceThread, students engage in personalized voice and video conversations as they respond to videos and prompts I have arranged about the course content. I am present here too and leave personalized video and voice feedback to my students, providing me with extra opportunities to expand my teaching time with them and take their learning out into spontaneous and relevant niche areas of our content, just as we would in a classroom conversation. My comments diverge between feedback and “micro lectures” — sometimes including links to additional websites or images and in some video comments I hold up examples of historic photographs to demonstrate what I’m referring to in my comment. Ning is a closed (or private) social network in which each student continuously develops his or her own blog throughout a course. The blog, like the VoiceThread comments, are shared only with other students in the class (they are not accessible by the general public) and commented on by other students, creating a learning community.
Most of my online students say, “I’ve never had a class like this one.” That comment almost always transforms into a very positive response by the end of the class, but in the first week, students are often unsure. I work hard to support those who are nervous about these new learning methods.
Identifying and Supporting Student Reluctance
Through many years of online teaching, I’ve learned the importance of designing a high-touch approach in the early weeks of my class so I can understand the needs and challenges of my learners. As a teacher, I refer to these early weeks as the “red zone.” One of the simple mechanisms I have in place for week one is an online survey that students complete after reading the syllabus and reviewing some essential resources shared in the course site. The content they review before completing the survey introduces them to many important things about the class, including my policies and philosophy about teaching, grading information, the fact that they will be participating in voice or video conversations using VoiceThread, and also creating their own blog in a closed social network referred to as Ning.
Diane, and the rest of my students, completed the online survey and I reviewed the responses. In the survey, there is one question that I always hone in on quite emphatically. Toward the end of the survey, I asked students, “In one word, how are you feeling about the class?” This single-word answer was a golden nugget for me. Nearly all students responded with a word that was either positive or neutral, like “excited, “good,” “fine,” “curious.” But there are usually two or three students (out of about 30) who reply with something more concerning like “overwhelmed,” “scared,” “nervous.” These are the students I reach out to. And this is the group that Diane fell into.
I reached out to Diane after week one and mentioned, in an e-mail, that I had read her survey response and I wanted to assure her that I’d be here to support her through any questions she might have. I asked her to elaborate on her response and to help me understand her reasons for being “nervous” about the class. She wrote back and explained to me that she had taken many online classes before and she had been successful in those classes too. But none of those classes had been like this one. She was not comfortable with the idea of speaking in the VoiceThreads and also shared at one point that listening to her own voice was like “nails on a chalkboard.” She was not familiar with VoiceThread or Ning (by the way, I do not expect any of my students to be familiar with these tools) and she was skeptical about the value they would bring to her experience.
Fading Out
I soon also began to learn that Diane also was a very busy woman. She worked more than one job and these extra technologies were intrusions into the flow of her life, intrusions that weren’t planned and weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms. I candidly shared with Diane why I use VoiceThread and Ning and just how valuable they are to my online learners in creating community and motivating students to learn in relevant contexts. I asked her to keep an open mind and wait three weeks. By week three, I assured her, things would settle in.
Well, by week three, Diane was blossoming and I could begin to scale back my high-touch support. In her VoiceThread group, she was quickly becoming a leader to her peers. And on our voluntary “check in slides,” she was candidly reflecting on how surprised she was to be enjoying the VoiceThreads so much (sigh of relief!). On Diane’s blog, not only did I observe thorough, critical writing in response to my prompts, but she was actively enhancing her blog with non-required posts that were “inspired” (her word) by our readings and other course content. She was reaching out and engaging her peers in dialogue by leaving valuable comments in their blogs that both engaged them in critical conversation and encouraged them for jobs well done. Diane was emerging as a community leader in the class, a role that is filled to some degree each semester by one, two or three students and she was really flying to new heights.
Overcoming Fear Leads to New Journeys
Diane had been faced with a risk. Rather than running away from it, she tackled it head on. As a result, she grew in new and unexpected ways. And one more unexpected outcome would arrive soon too. Diane, apparently, was a budding freelance writer. After conquering her unfamiliarity and fear of technology, she acquired the skills and the confidence to be hired by a major newspaper as a blogger. Wow! My class — an online, History of Photography Class at a community college — resulted in a reluctant, older student securing a 21st-century journalist position. Quite an unexpected outcome, I’d say?
As Diane completed her journey in our 17-week class, I invited her and all my students to record a comment on my Wisdom Wall, a special VoiceThread in which I invited departing students to share advice with incoming students. This tradition is a great way to end a class and provides a beautiful, warm entrance experience for my next group of nervous, reluctant learners. Please take two minutes to listen to Diane’s reflection by clicking on the video below. (Shared with permission.)
The Golden Rule of Teaching with Technology: “If you do not believe your students can do it, you are right.”
Teaching with the right technologies is essential when you are teaching online. And your decisions should always be guided by pedagogy. Once you choose to adopt tool into the design of your class, you are the key to your students’ success.
When you have students who are reluctant, overwhelmed, and nervous, only a person will be able to shepherd them through that experience successfully.
Thus, much of the success of these “reluctant learners” comes down to you. If you do not believe your students can do it, you are right. If you are skeptical about whether or not your students will succeed, they will smell your reluctance and they will not perform. You must be a strong, motivational, inspirational, leader. Look within yourself. If you don’t believe that your students can and will succeed, you need to adjust something in your class. If you exude confidence in your online students and do so through warm, video communications so they can know who you are (something that can’t be obtained through text), they will be more likely to be motivated to want to make you proud.
For more teaching tips and strategies, visit the resource site for my book, Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies or pick up my eBook How to Humanize Your Online Class with VoiceThread Kindle or Nook.
