Reflections: Standard One

 

The awareness in this practicum is bringing all of my previous components together from the other classes in this certification.  I am learning more and more and more about how to be a better classroom leader, in students and faculty classrooms. 

 

STANDARD ONE was a surprise to me in that it was not the geographic starting line of an online class.  I did struggle a bit during the practicum with the order of the standards. Looking at the bulleted points, I am impressed with the depth of the customs of this standard.

 

Actively engaging learners is critical for me in my teaching method. I have a philosophy in my class that, “You are not allowed to be apathetic in my class. You will either like it or dislike it, no in-betweens”. I am constantly watching and monitor students to see how they are responding and trying to pro-actively predict challenges and fix them before they become a problem. This is where active engagement for the learner happens. Signing your name to a contract imprints learners’ commitment to the task.

 

I believe in trust and a mutual exchange of ideas and philosophies between faculty and students. I began teaching years ago believing the only difference between students and myself is that I know the information they need. My goal is to build the relationships between every student to the point where they are comfortable with me and are confident that I am going to treat them and their learning styles with respect.  I am going to honor their time and affirm it in each class.  I do not involve activity in my classes that are for my own edification or entertainment.

 

I provide structure to students with an expectation of meeting halfway in the learning path. I am flexible and allow professional and appropriate negotiations in most content and interpretation. I am not hesitant to admit that I was wrong. Creating a sense of community builds the safety net that students need in an unfamiliar online environment. One of the top reasons why students drop online classes is that they do not feel a sense of belonging and community in their classes.

I use groups for instruction, focus on outcomes, and extend their learning. I do this by including each learning step as an aggregate for the rest of the class. Trust and fair play is what I do with communication and showing the class that I am human. I try not to cover up my mistakes but own them and change my opinions and actions on occasion when it is appropriate.

 

In my group and project assignments, I will monitor class activity by checking on posts and messaging. I can tell when the activity is following protocols or not by the communications streams in the project areas. I always build a strong communication component in all of them.

 

The artifacts below will help explain that philosophy and what I have done to sustain my teaching skills for almost 30 years.  For students or teaching faculty it, all means the same to me. The artifacts you will experience in this standard one module include:

• Student Welcome Video: A short personal welcome to their class and explanation of who I am as a person and as a teacher

• Learning Styles Survey: A short student survey that exposes what learning styles my class prefer and how to connect with them by the results

• Voice Thread: A dynamic tool for creative discussions for both students and myself to relate to each other in a visual, audio and textual way

• Student Groups: An explanation of what I use for pairing groups of students in such a way as to build on teams and learning platforms, addressing learning styles

• Discussion Boards: A text model of academic discussions that allow students and faculty to connect in an asynchronous way

 

For activity analysis and any adjustments that are needed the "track views" option is always selected. This allows instructors to create a report that has evaluation data on how many students access the items and links in any content.