DE Oracle @ UMUC

Fostering a Student-Centric Classroom: Part I

Joan Berkowitz

Adjunct Faculty

Graduate School of Management and Technology

Published: 0 2003

Category: » Online-pedagogy » Classroom-communication

"Going for the Gold" in On-line Classes Part I: Beginning a Dialog with Students

There's gold in WebTycho. It isn’t in the chance to make money, although the profit motive has certainly driven the distance education field at more than one institution. It isn't in the software, although that is the envy of at least one D.E. instructor at Harvard. The gold in WebTycho resides in the members of the class.

As instructors, we are at a handicap relative to our students in WebTycho classes. Most of us have never taken an on-line course for academic credit. Many of our students have never taken an on-site course in graduate school. How can we tap their experience for our mutual advantage? The answer is at once supremely simple and challengingly complex.

Ask them.

Read what they write to you and to each other. Participate in the dialog, not as a "“sage on the stage" but as a "guide on the side." [1]

This two-part article describes one professor's approach to collaborating with students in a search for excellence. Part 1 covers the first steps in establishing a dialog.

Start (and Set Up) Dialog via Class Introductions

In the courses I teach, the dialog begins the moment a student enters the classroom. The opening Class Announcement directs the student to our "Getting Acquainted Conference." There, I ask each student to write an extended biography, and I ask for specific information [see sidebar].

I am the first to respond and I include some details about family and pets.

Extended biographies are wonderful ice-breakers. One student said that he felt he knew more about his online classmates than his face-to-face (f2f) classmates, even though he would not recognize the former if he tripped over them.

In addition to getting to know one other, students start to interact. Those who have been in prior classes together greet each other warmly and wish each other luck. Those who have worked or traveled in the same circles comment on their common heritage. I ask questions of those who are a bit parsimonious with their words.

The value of this exercise for me is several-fold.

1. Knowing where students are located and something about their background helps me assign groups, if we do group work.

2. In subsequent weeks I use the biographies to draw on individuals' specific knowledge. For example, I asked an accountant in one of my environmental auditing courses to explain to us the similarities and differences between environmental auditing and financial auditing. I know the answer, but it means a lot more to the students to hear it from one of their own.

3. Finally, I use the biographies to help students choose term paper topics. When a few ask for recommendations, I anchor my response around their stated backgrounds. For one stay-at-home Mom in environmental auditing, I suggested that she develop an audit protocol for a household. She attacked the topic with enthusiasm and turned in the best paper in the class.

Deepen Mutual Understanding via "Objectives" Dialogs

The opening Class Announcement also directs the students to the Week One Conference where one topic asks, "What would you like to learn in this course?" I ask the students to review my objectives for the course as stated in the Syllabus and to indicate their objectives. Most concur with the syllabus objectives. Some express very specific learning objectives based on their current jobs or career aspirations. If a student expresses an interest in a relevant topic that I was not planning to include, I either modify the curriculum accordingly, or say why I am not doing so and suggest the topic as a good one for the term paper. (It almost invariably is.)

I have the students revisit their objectives in Weeks Five and Ten of the course under a conference topic entitled, "How goes it?" I invite them to comment on whether their objectives are being met, and if not, what changes they would recommend. I also invite them to add objectives now that we have gotten into the content of the course. By that time, we have corresponded enough so that they feel "safe" to be open with me and their classmates.

Students know that when I say there are no stupid questions or comments, I mean it. They know I pay attention. Following suggestions in the Week Five and Ten dialogs, I chose a new textbook for ENVM 647, Environmental Risk Assessment. I modified the assignments in the Capstone course to mesh with the Capstone projects. I do not accept every suggestion, but when I do not, I indicate why.

Be Accessible and Timely

I visit the classroom daily throughout the semester so that students get responses to their questions and comments within 24 hours. In case they need faster response or have a private matter they want to discuss, I give them access to my e-mail address, my office and home telephone numbers, my FAX number, and my office address. Many send me e-mails. Very few phone or visit.

Conclusion

Opening a dialog between all class members early and setting a pattern of drawing on students' own individual strengths makes my class more effective and more relevant to my students. Both my students and I come away with a richer learning experience. Opening the dialog is only the beginning, however. Part 2 of this article will be featured in the January/February 2004 issue of the DE Oracle. It will show how the dialog continues and ultimately results in the course becoming student-directed.

________________________________________

[1] George Collison, Bonnie Elbaum, Sarah Haavind, and Robert Tinker. Facilitating Online Learning. Atwood Publishing , Madison, WI, 2000 (ISBN 1-891859-33-1)