Hello my name is Vanessa. I have decided to answer the following 3 questions:
- What is the most important characteristic of high quality online learning environments and why it is important?
Open and clear communication, as well as accessibility to the instructor, are an important place to start. Students need to know that you will be there to help guide them and answer any questions, especially navigation and technical issues, that they come up against. I also think it is important to make no assumptions. It is very hard to determine based on sometimes limited communication with a student where they are at or what their needs might be. Striving for as much communication as you can facilitate is so important in these situations.
- What is one thing that you have learned about teaching online (or face-to-face if you haven’t taught online) in the last year and how has it impacted your practice?
You will have students from one end of the spectrum to the other in terms of their comfort, capability, anxiety, and experience about being in an online learning environment. You need to adapt and learn to meet where the students are at, individually, in order to be most effective for them.
- What questions do you have about online teaching and learning?
I would really like to explore different avenues that can help with student overall engagement in the class conversations as well as how to facilitate better compliance with engagement with the course content itself. Becoming proficient in the Moodle technology being a specific focus here.