Olt301 post 4 Interview
Post #4 should be a summary of your interview, including:
The topics of discussion and/or questions asked:
1) How do you promote engagement and community in a continuous entry course?
2) Are there any digital tools that you have found to be the most useful?
Answers, solutions, suggestions or other advice given;
1) How do you promote engagement and community in an continuous entry course?
One of the ways that I have found is to provide personalized feedback to the students for each of their submissions. When a class is continuous entry, oftentimes the students are working on their assignments and quizzes at a time when their peers might have already moved on or not even begun. So if you, the faciliator, can provide feedback for them that not only includes where they may have done well or gone off track, but can also share anecdotes of others submissions that you have seen for example, this will help them feel that they are indeed part of a community and not going at this alone.
2) Are there any digital tools that you have found to be the most useful?
BBB synchrounous sessions are particulary useful esp. when dealing with students who have expressed frustration with any of the course content. You have such an easier time getting a truer sense of where the student is at when you can speak to them face to face. And what I also find is normally investing in this time upfront can actually save a lot of time of online commincation in the end.
2-3 key lessons learned through the conversation:
Some key lessons I learned here is that these steps are not hard nor time consuming and in fact, could actually save time in the long run. If the student feels supported and their work evaluated on that personal level, they are much less likely to be spending energy on things that aren’t aligned with the course objectives themselves (technical issues or not understanding where they went wrong on an assignment for example) and instead you free them up to continue to progress in their learning.