orienting students to online instruction

8/13/2019 Orienting Students to Online Instruction

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Orienting studentsObjective

The objective for this session is to o!er strategies you can use with your students to help orientthem to online instruction. Below are the specific topics that will be highlighted in thisdocument.

1. Explain why it is important to orient students when teaching. Highlight why this is evenmore critical when using online communication.

2. Help you understand the di!erence between face to face and online mediated courses andcommunication.

3. O!er strategies you can employ with students to help with online communication.

4. Tie the above strategies to tools at your disposal in the LMS.

1. Why is it important to orient students?

When using online instruction in your courses, you have to assume the mantle of not onlythe content expert of your given subject but also, as a technology expert for the tools you havechosen to use. Just like you would not walk into a class the first day and begin the instruction

without first explaining your expectations and the students responsibility for the semester, so toyou cannot simply turn on your online course and expect students to understand what they arerequired to accomplish. This is where you have to help the students understand everything from

where they are required to go, to how they complete the corse successfully. What follows are afew ideas to help you understand what your students need from you.

Begin anything you do online from the perspective of the student. You can make noassumptions about student prior knowledge of systems, processes or procedures. The onlyassumption you can make is that your students know nothing and will need help to navigate thesemester successfully. Below are some questions you can ask yourself (putting you in the studentrole) to help you with this process.

Where do I go?

How do I log in?

What am I seeing when I look at my course?

What skills must I have to be successful?

How do I communicate here?

Where can I see my grades?

Where do I go if I have problems?

What do I need to access this course?

How often will I need to come here?

How do I complete assignments?

How will I be graded?

How will I know when myassignments have been graded?

Etc.

STRATEGIES FOR ORIENTING STUDENTS TO ONLINE INSTRUCTION

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2. Teaching online is not the same as teaching face to face.

As you can see from the previous section, your students need your help. You are the go toperson for your courses. When students have questions you will be the person they will turn to. If

you are unable to help them they will stop asking and become frustrated. You must become the

expert of your courses. This means that not only must you be a content expert, but you must alsobecome an expert of what is required of student within your online courses. This is not to say thatyou must be the expert of all things, but you must have a strong knowledge of what you arerequiring of your students. The following are examples that will highlight to you the di!erentrequirements online instruction places on the instructor.

Food for thought

Online courses are available on a 24/7 basis.

Online courses are designed to allow for the greatest flexibility in time management for thestudents.

You can hold your students more accountable for the work they complete online.

You can see when and what your students are doing within your course.

You can make adjustments to help student success, based on data.

You must draw boundaries for yourself.

You must communicate more with online instruction.

You must communicate within a reasonable timeframe (24 hours).

You must have set channels for communication to happen.

You must demonstrate how to complete each assignment.

When thinking about the previous statements, you can begin to understand that your studentsneed your help for them to be successful in your course.

3. Strategies for orienting students.

What is meant by orientation? In simplest terms it means helping students understandwhat they need to know when they need to know it. The orientation will change depending onthe given task. One thing is certain, your students need your help. Your evaluations are largely

dependent on student satisfaction with your course. When student expectations are not alignedwith your expectations, conflicts and dissatisfaction are likely outcomes. This has nothing to dowith your knowledge of the subject you are teaching. The following are strategies you can employto help your students with your courses

1. Cover the who, what, when, where, and why the first day of class.

Understand that you will probably need to devote the first day of your course to this task.

2. Cover the syllabus including grade distribution in the first class day.


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This sets tone for the course.

3. Log into your course and literally show your students what is looks like. Highlight how youhave your course laid out and where they can find the tools within your course.

4. Create assignments that will help students self orient to your course. Make sure to o!er

points as an incentive for completion. Have the students log in and/or find the required online resources.

Have them find the grade book.

Have them send an email from within the course

Have them post to a forum

Etc.

5. Explain to the students what technology they will need to complete the course.

6. Demonstrate to your students how to complete each assignment before they become

available to the students.When covering this in class it is important to use orienting language that will focus your

students on the task you are covering. Phrases like This is important, You will need toknow this in order to complete the assignment, This will be on the test are examples oforienting phrases. Once students have become better at self orientation these phrases areless necessary but still useful.

7. Demonstrate to your students what you expect to receive depending on the given task.

It is helpful if you have a student account which you can show the process students willneed to go through to complete a task. This is not only helpful in showing the students howto complete a task, but will demonstrate for them what a completed task looks like from

their perspective. Student and instructors do not see things the same way within an onlineenvironment.

8. Explain what your preferred communication channel is and set what you consider to be areasonable response time for communication with your students

A channel may be email, telephone, text, or course forum. Students must know where toreach you, and must understand how quickly they should expect to hear a reply from you.

The student expectations will vary depending on the channel chosen. If you do not clearlystate what you deem to be reasonable, you can cause frustration. An example would betexting. Students may assume that you will respond instantly, if they text you. If you thinkthat 24 hours is reasonable for this channel you must let your students know this.

9. O!er study tips to your students on how they can manage their time and completeassignments.

It is a good idea to have some assignments due in stages. Complete part A by this day andthen do part B to finish. This will help build the types of study habits you expect from yourstudents.


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orienting students to online instruction

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