Education Articles from College Matching Service

Make the most of any group or team time. If you are assigned to a team, make time to do your best on the assignment. Even if your team can only meet for 15 minutes every week during the team project time, do it. You should use the telephone, instant messaging, or the class chat room for your team time. Save the discussion board and e-mailing for exchanging files and polishing your group project. You will get to know your fellow classmates and get a better grade in everyone gets to know each other, even just a little bit. (Hint: Online courses call instant messaging, chat rooms, and telephone conversations synchronous, meaning at the same time, and call discussion postings and e-mails asynchronous, meaning not at the same time.)

Look for opportunities to meet other online students. They don’t have to be in the same class or even in the same university because there are many similarities when taking online classes anywhere. Local public libraries, community colleges, and other places are good starting points for locating students. If you are unable to find people in your community, look online or right here in the eLearners community. Even if you are not interested in replying to a blog or a commercial chat, you will probably see some of the same experiences you are having appearing in these places. (Hint: Check to see if your school hosts local meetings or events and attend them.)

Establish a relationship with your professor. If you are truly interested in the subject you are taking, e-mail your professor some very well thought out questions about the subject. Most professors will answer and be flattered you are thinking about the course beyond the assignments and activities. Also, many professors enjoy sharing their expertise so don’t be shy! (Hint: Online professors can become mentors, reviewers, and references for later projects just like classroom-based professors.)

Wear your school colors with pride! Purchase a sweatshirt with your online university’s logo or slap a bumper sticker on your car. Believe it or not, just associating yourself with a school helps makes you feel a part of the school and once you feel part of the school, you will feel less isolated. (Hint: Most online bookstores will sell you logo items right along with your books!)

Online education is a fairly new type of educating individuals. However, with the development of different teaching styles, the task of motivating online students has become easier.

To jumpstart everything, it would be wise for the online teacher to post an introduction a day or two before the class starts. You can ask the students to post their own in a dedicated discussion thread and ask them to answer the discussion question. This is a good way for the professor to know what would be the needs, interests and career goals of his students are. He will then be able to streamline the course properly.

To students who are new to online earning or those who lack computer skills, the professor may want to reassure their students that it would just take a little time before they become comfortable with the online applications and software they have to use for the classes. It would also help if the students are encouraged to contact technical support for any technical questions they may have.

Since online courses can be attended by anyone regardless of what language they know, encouraging the students to take additional language or grammar exercises can help overcome the language barrier. The poor or average ability students may want to take advantage of additional practice exercises to earn more bonus points for their grades.

Praising your students for their any written assignments can help them go out of their shells and be less shy to express their points of view. Calling on them to the discussion forum of the class would be a good thing to do so that an open line of communication is encouraged amongst your students and their inhibitions lessened. This will give them more confidence to attend your classes.

In the end, it is all about being able to address what your students need and want. This will get them to cooperate and participate, making your class more worthwhile and interesting.