A perpetual question that we face as designers of online instruction, in the era of rapidly evolving communication technologies and learning management systems, is: how do we create a vibrant community of learners online? We know that students will achieve at higher levels if they feel a personal connection with their teacher and are socially engaged with their peers. To establish these connections in an online course, and motivate students to take an active role in building their communities, we must adequately orient students to the online milieu, and also not overwhelm them with technology or ‘high-stakes’ social experiences. In this post I take insights that we’ve gleaned from the past 3 years of running fully-online courses (most recently using Canvas by Instructure) and present one possible progression of social learning activities that will help students get the most from their teachers and peers.

Discussion

To begin, engage students in simple asynchronous discussion. Consider using a prompt that invites students to share something safely personal, yet that does not demand, or even invite, high-level creativity. One idea is for such a prompt is “What was a course you took last year that you found interesting? Write for 5 minutes about why that class was so interesting.” Some notification that the student has completed the prompt (a short response from the teacher, an automated ‘complete’ grade designated upon posting to the discussion, etc.) affirms to the student that she has completed the required task.

Notifications

Almost all learning management systems have notification options, and helping students use these to better integrate their online world with their ‘terrestrial’ world is crucial to maximizing their engagement and achievement. Have your students set their notification preferences so that direct messages within the LMS, and new posts to active course discussions, are forwarded to their primary email accounts.

Messaging

If a student feels a personal connection to her teacher, she will perform at higher levels academically. Before you can expect students to feel comfortable sharing their ideas and perspectives amongst their peers, they should know you and you them. Find an opportunity in the first week of your course to initiate, within the learning management system (LMS), a 1-1 exchange with each student. A prompt like ‘what is one hope and one fear you have about this online course?’ opens the door for productive conversation that may be more appropriate in this private exchange. This reinforces the student-teacher relationship, and allows students to experience their notifications and LMS-based communications in action.

Video Messaging

Video-making tools (like Canvas’ built-in Recorder) allow teachers and students to use non-verbal communication (gestures, tone, posture, dress, facial expression), making it the most robust medium for online exchanges. Students may feel timid about recording videos of themselves talking. It can be awkward. They may be tempted to edit out all of their “ah”s and “um”s, but doing so is time consuming and often unnecessary. Start with something lower-stakes, a video message exchange between you and each student, to give them a chance to work through any technological kinks or general uncomfortability they might have with seeing and hearing themselves.

Video Discussion

Most learning management systems allow users to add content to discussions using multiple media: text, audio, and video. Once students feel comfortable in their online milieu — but not before they have had a chance to use the LMS and establish a relationship with you, their teacher — consider having them participate in a discussion where all of the posts are in video format. I advise a single-post discussion (where students are asked to post only once), so as not to create an overwhelming thread of videos that becomes difficult to navigate. A prompt that might work well for this discussion is: “In a 30-60 second video post, tell us 5 things about yourself. Make sure that we can see your face.” I would recommend customizing the discussion so that students cannot read each other’s’ posts until they themselves contribute.

Group Discussion

Quick recap: at this point, students are comfortable navigating the LMS, they have used video technology, and they have begun to define, through their posts and interactions, their online identity for this course. I’d argue that all of these steps are prerequisites to smaller-group discussions, which can be used for 2 purposes: to push students to take bolder intellectual risks (they’re more likely to test their most ‘out there’ ideas in an intimate setting); or to make more navigable those discussions where students are posting 5-6 unique contributions each. I predict that students will share more freely and go deeper with their thoughts if the social environment of the course is built up a bit before asking students to work together on higher-level or creative tasks.

Video Conference

Asynchronous discussions allow students to be very intentional in how they present themselves. Imagine a student writing a response to a prompt: she writes a few sentences, realizes that she made a contradiction within her response, and goes back and edits it before posting. For this reason I would hold off on video conferences, often regarded as the gold standard in online courses as they most closely mimic traditional classroom interactions, until after students have had a chance to learn their peers’ names and faces in a lower-stakes, asynchronous exchange. At Global Online Academy, we know from countless responses on student satisfaction surveys that these live sessions are tremendously important. They facilitate meaningful, fun, and spontaneous interactions. They also require the most scaffolding and preparation.

Group Project

If you want students to collaborate productively, it should not be the first time that they have interacted. Giving students opportunities to establish their online presence, and build comfort with the technology, will pay dividends when it comes time to put them to the task of working together on a single project (often across many time zones, and with radically different schedules).

The post 8 Steps for Rolling Out Social Features in Canvas LMS appeared first on Keep Learning.