Jul 23, 2018
Online courses continue to have a notoriously low retention rate and success rate compared to traditional courses. In this second of three episodes, Kevin continues the conversation with ways to literally make the course more face-to-face, plus using faces, voices, and scheduled announcements to promote connections.
- Syllabuses? Syllabi? Which is correct? (3 min)
- Continuing the conversation (1 min)
- Featured: 49 MORE Tricks for Retention & Success in Online Courses (22 min)
- Next episode is part 3 of 3 (1 min)
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(0:44) Which is correct: syllabuses or syllabi? The answer may surprise you! Nevertheless, now's a good time to think about tweaking your course documents for the fall semester. I'll cover that on a future episode, so I need you to send your contributions now!
- Syllabus at Dictionary.com
- Quora discussion on syllabus plurals
- Please share your syllabus ideas, questions, or comments at:
- 1-833-LION-DEN or 1-833-546-6338
- podcast@theAPprofessor.org
(4:02) It's too long for one episode, so Kevin will cover the featured topic in three episodes: 21 (the previous episode), 22 (this episode), and 23 (the next episode).
If you're not teaching online now, you will be someday! Most of these tips apply to face-to-face courses, anyway.
In the previous episode, Kevin suggested:
- It's all about connections.
- Cultivate a friendly, informal, and supportive "online teaching persona"
- Express empathy, don't just have empathy.
- Use customer-service skills when communicating with students
- Use our own pain points and frustrations to tap into how our students might feel
(8:10) Online courses are notorious for high dropout rates and high failure rates, compared to traditional face-to-face classes. Kevin continues to share a bunch (perhaps not exactly 49) strategies he has found to work in creating and nurturing the kinds of connections that help retain students and support their success in the course.
This episode focuses on adding faces to an online course (sort of like in a face-to-face course), plus how to use scheduled video, audio, and text announcements to stay connected with students.
"A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow."
Patton's Law (Gen. George S. Patton)
- Power of the 'Profile Pic" in Online Learning (blog post)
- How do I add a profile picture in my user account as a student? (example of instructions you can link to; most LMSs have such a resource you can link to in your syllabuses. Or syllabi.)
- iSpring for PowerPoint (Kevin's blog post)
- Photos and Video Helps Connect Students and Teachers in Online Courses (Kevin's blog post)
- Short Video Walk-Throughs Help Your Students (Kevin's blog post)
- Camtasia, Snagit, Jing screen capture software (products from TechSmith)
(30:23) The next episode continues the conversation about improving engagement in online courses.
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