Creating an Online Community

1. Creating an Online Community

2. Creating an Online Community • Fostering a Safe Online Community • Connecting with Students and Parents • Communication

3. Fostering a Safe Online Community

4. Fostering a Safe Online Community Objective In this lesson, you will analyze best practices for creating a safe online community, develop expectations for your own online community, and look at how to implement guidelines and consequences for cyberbullying.

5. Introduction The word community could apply to a neighborhood, a professional group, or people who share the same hobby. In a community, people interact often and help each other. They share common values and understand each other's needs. People in a community also work together to keep their community safe.   Increasingly, people in a community do not live near each other or interact in person at all. Online communities bring people together who share common interests or have common goals. As an online teacher, you will create an online community with your students. This lesson will cover how to establish a community in an online environment and how to maintain a safe, friendly, and supportive atmosphere.

6. Getting Together A strong online community comes from building strong relationships with students. Although online teachers do not see students face to face every day as teachers do in traditional classrooms, successful online communities find unique ways to engage in daily or weekly interaction.  What activities might establish a sense of community? How can you encourage students to be actively involved? And how can you promote a safe online community? You can begin by creating an online community where students are excited to interact with others and feel safe sharing their views regularly.  Let's take a look at some activities that will help you create a safe and strong online community.

7. Setting Expectations It's important to set expectations with your students from the start to help promote a safe environment in your online classroom. When expectations are clearly communicated at the beginning of a class, students get a clear picture of what they are expected to accomplish and how they are expected to behave.  What expectations do you have for your classroom? To answer this question, think about typical expectations for the grade level you are teaching in a traditional classroom. Chances are you'll have similar expectations for an online community. Also consider giving students a chance to come up with their own rules for communicating with each other. Encourage them to brainstorm a list of expected behavior in the online classroom. Once expectations are determined, you can communicate them to students through the message board or by creating a sticky thread in the discussion forum. You could also show them the list before each live session as a reminder.  Points to Think About Which features will your expectations cover—discussion boards, live sessions, assignments? What will the consequences be for students who do not meet established expectations?

8. Cyberbullying You've likely seen or heard instances of bullying in schools. Cyberbullying is a similar problem that takes place online. Cyberbulling can occur in social media platforms or through text messages. Here are some examples of cyberbullying: • sending rude or threatening messages • spreading rumors about someone through email or online posts • posting unauthorized pictures of someone on social media platforms On the previous screen, we covered setting expectations. Make it clear to students that they must treat each other with respect and that there will be consequences if they do not. Setting these expectations from the start is important to prevent cyberbullying.  Monitor student interactions in the online discussion forums and group emails to ensure that no one is using inappropriate language or displaying unacceptable behavior. Strictly deal with any such instances. If your program already has an antibullying policy, you should refer to it.  You can find reference materials online for dealing with cyberbullying. Also look for best practices for preventing cyberbullying in an online environment. 

9. Summary Building a strong community requires frequent interaction, mutual understanding, and teamwork to accomplish common goals.   In an online classroom, the teacher's role is to build a community using online tools and features, such as discussion threads and daily email communications, that encourage student involvement. Activities such as virtual field trips and meet-the-teacher sessions also help keep students engaged in an online community.  Such frequent interaction also requires that teachers set clear expectations for academic achievement, student involvement, and acceptable behavior in the online classroom. Following these best practices ultimately leads to more student engagement and a safe online community. Extension Activity Create a list of activities to begin building your online community. Some starting points to consider include planning both social and academic activities, using a variety of tools to reach out to your students, and including a personal touch to let them know you care.

10. Connecting with Students and Parents

11. Connecting with Students and Parents Objective In this lesson, you will create a setting where students feel connected and where there is an open line of communication with parents or guardians.

12. Introduction We hear a lot of advice from many different sources, including family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. It's a human tendency to trust the people we connect with more than people we don't know. The same is true in the relationship between students and their teacher. Connecting with students is important. When students know that their teacher genuinely cares about them, they are more likely to be interested in what the teacher has to say. Students are also more motivated to work toward goals set by their teacher.   Creating this strong bond requires that teachers get to know students. Teachers can extend their connection with students by building a relationship with their parents. When teachers regularly make an effort to connect with students and their parents, it helps set expectations and makes everyone feel more secure.    In this lesson, we'll review best practices for communicating with students and their parents effectively in an online environment.

13. Connecting with Students Connecting with students helps develop a good rapport with them. Students will feel comfortable approaching you with problems and are more likely to listen to your advice. Building a rapport with students can help you understand their strengths, limitations, and learning styles. This knowledge will enable you to adapt your teaching methods accordingly.  In a traditional classroom setting, teachers can use group discussions to observe students and better understand their views. On the next screen, we'll see how such techniques can be applied to an online environment.  Points to think about Do you feel that you maintain a good rapport with all of your students? Why do you think it is important? What can you do to connect with your students better? 

14. Connecting with Students Best Practices for Connecting with Students Here is list a list of best practices that can help you connect with your students: First Impressions • Start the school year or term with a welcome call to each student. Have a few questions prepared that will help you find out about the student and his or her interests.  • Think about what information should you communicate to your students as they begin their class. Start a list and keep it nearby so you can add to it as you think of things.  • Host a meet-the-teacher session. Explain the goals of the class, tell students your expectations, and allow them to ask questions. This type of session is a great way for students to see you as a person and not just a name or a voice. What pictures could you post to share your background, interests, or hobbies?  Sharing a little about yourself will make students more comfortable sharing information with you.   Student Input • Survey the class at various times throughout the term to give students the opportunity to voice their struggles and concerns.  • Let students vote on discussion board topics to help motivate them to share their thoughts. 

15. Connecting with Students Student Interests • Have students create presentations about themselves to present online or to post on a message board for their classmates to see.  • When you learn students' interests, you can apply them to assignments to motivate students and keep them engaged. Keeping in Touch • Check in with students weekly, even daily if need be. • Provide opportunities for students to get in touch with you. Office hours allow them to take initiative. • Schedule regular phone conferences that allow you to reach out to students. Incorporate both academic and nonacademic topics of conversation. Informally assess students through conversation to check that they are retaining the material they have studied and are submitting work that is indeed their own. 

16. Connecting with Parents Parents act as a student's educational advocate at home, so it's important to communicate with them about their child's performance. A good relationship with parents can help ensure a smooth transition for students between school and life at home. Being available to address parents' questions and concerns ultimately can lead to academic success for students.  Best Practices Here's a list of best practices that can help you connect with parents: • Reach out to parents as the class or school year begins. Provide them with your contact information, as well as information about the course. • Find out how involved parents are in their child’s education and day-to-day activities. Knowing where parents are while the student is engaged in studying helps you learn how independent the student needs to be. • Host a meet-the-teacher session. Parents can see how an online classroom works, ask questions, and learn more about you as the teacher. • Record the meet-the-teacher session and post it for students and parents to access. • Keep parents in the loop about the class and their students' progress. Parents will appreciate the communication.

17. Summary Connecting with students and their parents builds strong, trusting relationships that support students as they work through a course.   Creating rapport with students gives them the confidence to approach you when they need help. There are a number of ways you can connect with your students. Focus on learning about your students, showing genuine concern for their performance, and encouraging student-initiated feedback.  It's also important to extend your connection with students by building a strong relationship with their parents. Provide regular updates to parents about their child's performance and be available to address their questions and concerns.  Extension Activity Identify three ways that you can connect with your students in an online environment. How will these connections help create a safe online classroom?

18. Communication

19. Communication Objective In this lesson, you will examine the qualities of an appropriate online voice and review netiquette best practices. You will also create expectations for effective communication in your online classroom.

20. Introduction Have you ever had a moment where, after explaining something complicated to someone, she claims to understand but has a wrinkled brow and wears a confused expression? That look tells you that even though she says she understands what you're saying, there's still doubt in her mind. This is one example of nonverbal communication, or communicating through body language, facial expressions, or tone of voice. In this example, the nonverbal communication conflicts with verbal communication (spoken or written words). This type of conflict can be challenging when you are trying to identify your students' needs.   In an online environment, you don't have the luxury of using or observing body language, tone of voice, or facial expressions. These nonverbal cues need to be addressed in other ways to avoid conflict or confusion.  In this lesson, we'll look at best practices for communicating effectively in an online environment.

21. z Match each emotion to the picture that best represents it. Drag the items on the left to the correct location on the right. sad A thoughtful B A B C afraid C Correct.

22. Online Voice and Netiquette On the previous screen, you looked at facial expressions and identified three kinds of emotions. How are these nonverbal cues communicated in an online environment? How can you make sure that you are being clear?  The answer to these questions is to develop an online voice based on rules of netiquette. Your online voice is the personality and communication style you display in any online environment. As the name suggests, netiquette is a set of accepted behaviors and manners to employ online. It's important that you and your students agree on and follow netiquette best practices to understand each other clearly and avoid miscommunication. Here are some best practices for online voice and netiquette: • avoid all caps  • use emoticons  • avoid sarcasm  • avoid crashing discussion boards/forums  • respect others  • read your message twice before sending 

23. z Answer the question below. Type your response in the space provided. Then compare your answer to the sample answer. Evan is a student in your class. After receiving a low grade from you on his assignment, he sends you an angry email. He expresses his dissatisfaction with his grade and blames you for it. How would you respond to Evan's email in a calm and professional manner? 

24. z Compare your answer to the sample answer. Your Answer Sample Answer Evan, I understand that your point. But, please take this as a learning in disguise. Let's meet to discuss your progress report and work together to understand the problem areas and their probable solution • Answers will vary but should include the following elements: • Address the student by name. • Empathize with the student if you think the student genuinely has a point. • Limit your response to three to four lines. • If offensive language was used in the email, warn the student that it is unacceptable. • Maintain a professional tone.

25. Expectations As we saw in the previous lesson, it's important to set clear expectations at the beginning of a class. Explain to students and their parents when and how you will communicate with them and how they should communicate with you. If your school already has a communication policy in place, remind students and parents to follow it.  Here are best practices for setting expectations in online classrooms: Consistent Turnaround Time Consistency makes your students and their parents feel valued and shows that their questions and concerns are important to you. Phone calls and emails should be returned within 24 hours, excluding weekends. • Phone calls: If you are not able to return a call within 24 hours, send an email noting that you received the message and would like to schedule a time to call back. This practice will help eliminate phone tag.  • Messages: If you don’t know the answer to a question, send an email response saying that you will get in touch when you have found the answer.  • Grading: Students can’t progress successfully if their assignments are not graded in a reasonable time. Establish a turnaround time based on the assignment and communicate that time to students and parents.

26. Expectations Provide High-Quality Feedback Great constructive feedback does not focus only on the negative, nor does it try to be too positive. As a rule of thumb, provide two comments of praise for every one note of criticism. Tell students why they did a great job and what they need to work on. Communicate Important Dates and Information • Start of semester/year: Host a few live sessions for both students and parents to attend. You'll begin to foster an online community with them. They'll have the chance to learn about you, hear your voice and ask questions. Send out a welcome email or newsletter along with a welcome phone call.  • Mid-year/semester: Inform students about their progress, how well they are doing, and what they can do to keep working toward their goals. Hold a refresher session to go over the expectations, schedule, and other information that was covered at the beginning of the semester. • End of year/semester: Conduct a survey to ask students for their feedback on the course. Also perform a self-assessment while the semester/year is still fresh in your mind. Think about what went well, what did not, and what can be added or taken out of the course. Consider how to better engage students and which technologies you would like to incorporate in the future.

27. Summary In traditional classroom settings, teachers and students often use nonverbal communication, such as body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice to communicate. In an online environment, these nonverbal cues need to be expressed differently. Follow the netiquette best practices to create your own online voice to fit your personality and communication style.  It's important to create a set of expectations for how students should communicate in an online classroom. Students and parents should also understand when and how you will communicate with them.  Extension Activity Create a lesson that covers information about online voice and netiquette, and share it with your students. Have them create a poster or their own presentation about communicating safely online.

28. Congratulations You have completed the TutorialCreating an Online Community