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communication

com·mu·ni·ca·tion

/kəˌmyo͞onəˈkāSH(ə)n/

Noun

The exchange of information and the expression of feeling that transfers information from one place, person or group to another. Many available tools and techniques help with the sharing of text, graphics, videos, and audio, and an understanding of "paralanguage" for the online environment (specialized social cuing) is key to encouraging and facilitating inclusive online learning communities.

Surveying Students Mid-semester to Instigate Immediate Changes

Credit: Adrian from Pixabay

An ungraded, anonymous mid-semester survey offers students a chance to voice concerns and ask questions about a course and its administration. Surveys of this type can be setup easily in Canvas. Compiled results can fuel a follow-up conversation and/or announcement where the instructor can address student feedback by answering questions and alleviating issues or making plans to do so.

Surveying Students to Check for Understanding

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Do you ever notice that a large percentage of students are having a hard time grasping a concept or following procedures properly? It might be time to send out a quick survey to figure out what’s going on. Soliciting student feedback to gain an understanding of where students are coming from can help you hone your teaching to make the maximum impact.

Questioning Students to Elicit Feedback About Your Course

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Just ask! Sometimes you must ask the right question to get the conversation started. An example of a great prompt for student feedback is to ask students to share “The one thing I wish I had known before I took this course is...” Replies to this prompt are exactly the kind of information that can help you address misunderstandings or clear up poor instructions or explanations.

Feedback Loops and Formative Assessment: Gathering Feedback from Students about the Effectiveness of Your Course

Feedback = idea, response, opinion, survey, comment, rating, result, advice

Credit: © STOATPHOTO / Adobe Stock

Don’t wait for formal evaluations to find out what your students are thinking and how they feel. A recent study by Jonas Flodén (2017) notes that “Student feedback pushes teaching choices … toward more student-teacher interaction” (Discussion section, para. 3). Findings like this illustrate the demand for more connection.

Using First-day Information Sheets to Support Inclusive Teaching

Credit: Addy, T., et al. (2021). What Inclusive Instructors Do. Stylus Publishing.

A great way to begin with an inclusive tone and show your commitment to helping students succeed is to gather anonymous information from your students so that you have a good idea of who is in your classroom. This sort of voluntary activity can help students disclose their equity challenges, perspectives, and other factors they’ll bring to class, like emotions and mindsets.

Using Student-to-Student Interactions to Boost Engagement

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Engaging students in class discussions and activities is always a challenging endeavor for instructors because there is no one-size-fits-all approach that will work to draw in everyone. Students will have varying degrees of interest in the topic, and not everyone will be able to find the same degree of relevance in the concepts presented.

Using Rubrics to Evaluate Student Work and Build Faculty Presence

Rubrics frequently supplement forms of assessment and are used to evaluate student work and learning. They can be used for projects, presentations, discussions, and writing assignments. Learners can view the criteria on which they are being assessed and can work towards meeting the stated expectations. For instance, it is common to include a rubric for online discussion forums so that learners have a clear idea of the criteria that will be used for grading (i.e.

Building Student Engagement with Discussions

Overhead view of students sharing at a round table.

Credit: ScreenFlow, under license agreement by Jane Sutterlin

Whether for a resident course or online, cultivating a human-centered classroom community takes time and effort. Discussion forums can help. Content-delivery discussion forums help students interact when considering content-related questions and topics, but other kinds of discussions can help create an interactive community of learners who share and get to know each other outside of the realm of course content. Consider the following:

Building Student Engagement with Faculty Presence Using Video

man standing with oil tanks in the background

Research shows that faculty presence and perceived connection in an asynchronous, online course can increase student satisfaction, motivation, and retention and reduce student feelings of isolation and confusion. Including weekly video announcements and/or lesson introductions is one way to accomplish this.

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