Hi, Deborah,
I have taught in an online setting and really have enjoyed it. Building personal relationships is key for student success. These are some of the strategies I have used in the past to assist with building strong relationships with students.
1) Before the course begins, every student receives a, "Welcome Call". This call is for the instructor to 1) Say Hello 2) Remind the student of the Course Start Date 3) Ask the student if they know where to log in for the first day of class 3) Reverify contact phone/email. Since I taught in a K12 setting I tried to make sure a parent was there too on the call. I did a few calls each day to pace myself, since, this is a lot to do, but, worth it in the end. ( I used google voice to set up my phone number and enjoyed it since I was able to text directly on a chrome extension on my computer)
2) Live Class Meeting, within the first three days of class. During this class meeting, say "Hi" to everyone who comes into session. Review pacing guide, expectations, screen share, and explain how the course will run, share your contact info, and when live sessions will be happening. Lots of students seem to show up for this session. If you are teaching K12 students it is great to invite parents/guardians to this meeting, so, they also understand online classroom expectations. Online learning at times seems to be like a diet everyone is super motivated at the start then sometimes people to start to "give up" or slack as time goes on . ( just like in real life,LOL.) I try my best to keep the momentum going.
3) At the start of the course, I created an introduce, yourself forum, as an instructor, I made a video about me to share with the students. I asked students to also contribute in the online forum. They could either just write some information about themselves, record a podcast/audio recording, post a picture, or create a video. I like them having choice. It was fun to learn all about them and see what they would create. Some of the questions, I would ask in the forum would be, what year they were in school, what they like to do when not learning online, was this their first online class. (ect) I made sure I responded to all students in the online forum so they were "heard" and acknowledged, it was a lot of work but, worth it in the end. It was a great way to show I was "present" in their online classroom.
4) A phone call check in throughout the semester to all students, I would then document this in my phone recording logs, I would ask them about progress, what they thought of the course, how could I improve it, what they thought was easy, and what was challenging. It important to ask how the technology was working for them. ( Were videos playing for them, did they have the closed captioning or screen reader if they needed it, any questions on a particular assignment)
5) Make learning "social" post a flip grid where students had to answer a question related to content and another question just to get know them or have fun. I was able to "iframe" my flipgrid with the use of HTML into my LMS.
6) Make contact through, mass text messaging, email, and auto-calls. Be sure to be upbeat, warm, and encouraging. Tone means everything.
7) Weekly "short" videos at the top of the course stating assignments and expectations for the week. They did have the pacing guide, but, I like using video since it seems more personal. I would also text the video out as well, hopefully, encouraging students to watch.
8) Playing games during live sessions creates a sense of community and fun. We played in our live sessions Bingo, Quizzes, and Family Feud. I would make a fuss for the winner telling them they had "bragging" rights and email them a certificate. The students and I got quite a laugh and it made , student-student, teacher- student, relationships stronger.
9) It is a lot of work to build these relationships, but, in the end I did have students texting graduation pictures to me. This made my heart quite full.
Good Luck with planning for online learning and building those terrific relationships !
Have a wonderful summer, Denise
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Denise Wright, M.Ed.
STEM Educator
Ocean Bay Middle School
@DenisecWright
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-08-2020 09:20
From: Deborah Baker
Subject: Seeking resources for building relationships in an online classroom
In anticipation of the fall, where teachers won't know their new students, what strategies and resources have people found helpful to build relationships within an online setting?
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Deborah Baker, Ph.D.
Asst Supt C & I
Brighton CSD
Rochester, NY
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