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Speaker: OTAN, Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.

Anthony Burik: Hello, everyone. My name is Anthony Burik. I'm a project specialist at OTAN. Welcome to today's OTAN Tech Talk. I would like to introduce our presenter today, Yecsenia Delgado Lorenzo, adult education counselor at Hacienda La Puente Adult Education. Yecsenia's topic is best practices for teaching online. Let's get started. Take it away, Yesenia

Yecsenia Delgado: Thank you, Anthony. And I'm going to be sharing my screen with all of you. Here we go. Thank you so much for being here today. So my name is Yecsenia Delgado Lorenzo, and I am a counselor at Hacienda La Puente Adult Education. I've been an instructor for the last 10 years. I've taught academic NCT classes.

My focus of research and study has really been online learning. How do we teach online courses, and what do students grab from them, like, how do we get them to complete the course. How do we get the most retention out of our online courses. So today, I'll be sharing the best practices for teaching online.

I'm going to start off with a quote, and this is one of my favorite quotes which is, "technology will never replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of a great teacher can be transformational." And I have seen that throughout my classes. It's utilizing the technology that we do have to better our practices and to engage our students. Today, our goal is really to review some empirical best practices for online teaching and discuss how we can apply these best practices in our own classrooms. So we'll get started.

I have 10 best practices that we'll discuss through this presentation. The first one is-- so the first best practice that research has shown us is to be present in our course site. So even if you're teaching a course that's 100% online, time and time again research has proven that teacher presence is the key to retention and student participation. I've taken a few classes myself where the teacher is completely away from the course, and we're just basically interacting with the course material or the learning management system.

So one of the key things that we've learned from research is that the teacher, the instructor, needs to be present. So according to study, surveys, the best online faculty are instructors who show their presence in the course multiple times a week, at best daily. So also setting clear expectations as to when you will be present and when you will not be present.

As many of us are juggling multiple tasks, it is difficult to continue to answer all those messages from our students. But providing them with that clear expectation of your messages will be responded to in 24 hours, is going to be helpful for the students knowing, when is my teacher present. Are you available from 9:00 to 12:00 in the morning, are you available from 5:00 to 9:00 in the evening.

So setting those course policies is going to be very helpful, and it's going to also reduce you answering those constant messages or those constant emails throughout your entire day. So this is really going to depend on your particular style. Setting your regular times when you can meet with students, virtually or in the classroom, or answering their emails, is going to be invaluable to your time management as well. So that's our number one best practice.

Our number two best practice is creating a supportive online course community. So a good strategy for developing a supportive online course community is to design a course with balanced set of dialogues. So when we're talking about dialogues, it's how do we communicate with our students. How do the students communicate with each other, and how did the students communicate with the resources that we have set in the course. This means designing a course that has all three dialogues where students are able to communicate with faculty, where students are able to communicate with other students, and where students are also able to communicate with what you've posted in your own course.

So in most courses, the dialogue of instructor to student is provided through maybe many lectures, maybe a text, maybe video or audio podcast. So even if-- so even that communication style, if you are teaching a full online course, being creative and maybe doing a screencast of fire, or doing a quick video of yourself explaining what they're expected to do that week and sending that out in the course messages, so then that student has that individual faculty to student dialogue. And then having those internal discussions internally where students are able to dialogue with each other within the course.

Our practice three is to share expectations for your students and for yourself. So one of the things that we've learned over and over again in research is this best practice cannot be overemphasized. So include on your course site a set of expectations of how students need to communicate and dialogue online, and how they communicate with you. So providing them with examples of we're expecting them to do in online post or a chat, providing them with the first example.

Especially early on in your course, as you start to set up your course, the first couple of group chats or the first couple of dialogues, we should provide assistance and provide an example. If we're expecting the student to create a video and upload it, providing an example of that video. Another example would be, many faculty tell students that they can expect the response within 24 hours during each week. Online learning is just as intensive as face to face learning. And sometimes I feel like online learning is a little bit more intensive because students really need to have their own time management, and they really need to be able to be organized enough to complete the assignments on their own.

So we need to provide those clear expectations of when they need to turn things in, being able to put in those due dates and provide them with that information, and plan things ahead of time. So being clear on as how much effort and time will be required on a weekly basis keep surprises to a minimum to our students. Being able to provide them how long should a task take them. If we're expecting them to do a specific activity, how long should it take. And giving that information to the students prior to that week so they're able to justify the time that they need to complete that assignment.

Our practice number four is to use a variety of large group, small group, and individual work experiences. So a community works well when there's a variety of activities and experiences. Online courses can be more enjoyable and effective when students have an opportunity to brainstorm and work through concepts and assignments with more than-- other student. At the same time, students work and learn best on their own. So building an options and opportunities for students to work together and individually is highly recommended.

So as you break up your objective, being able to look at that specific objective that you want your student to learn and finding activities of, OK, how do I incorporate a large group activity into this objective. And then a small group activity where students are expected to maybe work with one or two other students, and then incorporate a different activity where they're doing it individually. And they're able to complete that activity on their own so they can see their progress throughout each activity as they learn each objective.

Our practice number five. So use both synchronous and asynchronous activities. So multiple online courses almost always use asynchronous activities. It is important to use the tools we have in the course management system, virtual live classrooms and audio tools, to make it possible to do almost everything we do on campus. So bringing that element of the classroom on full online class is going to be important. We shouldn't have those students do different types of activities.

We should find a way and be creative to make them almost similar to what we do in the classroom. If we do group activity in the classroom, how can we bring that into an online learning classroom. Utilizing those break rooms in Zoom, utilizing the different resources we have on our learning management system to make those group activities.

Plus, we often engage learners in more collaborative and reflective activities, and what happens is recorded and archived and is there for their review. That is one of my favorite things about online learning is being able to record what we do. Being able to share with the student that has missed the class the recording of the class so they're able to come back and review those activities.

And many of my lessons, I actually prefer teaching them on Zoom especially when it's something that I know my students are going to need to review. I almost prefer teaching it on Zoom because I can record it, they have that archive of coming back and watching a step by step process online. There's nothing better than real time interactive brainstorming and sharing discussion. So those discussions are really rich resources for our students, if they're able to come back and review them.

For example, real time problem solving questions and answering review sessions can be very effective for the learning experience. And it also allows us to build our students self-efficacy. So when we start looking at self-efficacy is, how do we scaffold that learning? Providing those instructional support systems early on to build in multiple opportunities, to practice and gradually remove those supports. So as we're able to present this material in a group setting and we're able to record it, and our students are able to come back and see it. It's building in their self-efficacy, it's building in that positive influence, and that motivation that they can do this on their own as well.

Practice number six. So early in the course, get feedback. So course evaluations are usually called post evaluations. So we usually do them at the end, and they're usually done after the fact. And nothing can change or increase the satisfaction to facilitate learning to a class that has just completed. You want that feedback. That feedback is so important. But research has also showed us that early feedback is just as important.

So early feedback surveys or just informal discussions to ask students to provide feedback on what they're currently working on in the course is going to be helpful to you to better the course experience. Especially as we're teaching online, we want to get that feedback from our students of what is working, what is not working, what are they having trouble with.

If we're utilizing any online tools, we want that feedback early on so we can provide resources. So we can go back and reteach that specific technology that we're trying to get them to learn. Because as we teach our students, not only are they learning a new technology, they're also learning course content. So we want to get that feedback. How are these tools working for you?

So early feedback, those early surveys, are going to help us find out what's really going on in the back. And it's going to give us that early feedback so we can make those corrections, we can make those modifications as we go along. Not just getting early feedback on what they're learning, but also the early feedback is important on how the course is going. What do they like, what don't they like. Especially early on in the course so we can engage them and capture those things we want to change so they can complete the course.

Practice number seven is prepare discussion posts that invite questions, discussions, reflection, and responses. So discussions in an online course are equivalent to class discussions in a face to face class. The key difference, of course, is that discussions are asynchronous. Providing time for thought and reflection, and requiring maybe a written, a video, audio responses, that become part of the course archive.

So these are going to be really important. According to research, discussions, really the purpose is to provide an open question and answer forum to encourage critical and creative thinking, reinforcing domain and procedural process, and really to achieve that social interaction and community building within our classroom.

So one of the first activities that I usually do for all of my online learning classes is I build that community because I want them to feel comfortable in the classroom, posting their posts. So for example, the first activity that I do in my online courses is, if I'm going to use discussion forums every week, I explain what the discussion forum is. And maybe one of their first activities is to post a picture of their favorite shoes and provide a story as to why they're their favorite shoes.

So I use the teaching of the online discussion board and how to use it. But then I provide a really simple activity to build community within the post itself. And to guide the students, to let them know like, hey, every week you're going to have a post and these are the expectations and we build that community within it. And it also, as we build these discussion courses in the learning process, it validates their experiences. It validates what they're learning. It helps support their own reflections and their own inquiries.

So at least at minimum, depending on your course, we should have discussions daily, weekly, depending on your course time and what the expectations are for that course. But we should definitely be taking advantages of this course. And ESL, one of my favorite things to do when we were learning fruits. And I taught ESL literacy over the pandemic, and it was super difficult to try and teach that class through Zoom but it was interesting. My students were resilient. They had to post a picture of something they ate that week and explain the food, of what they ate. And even my literacy students found a way to communicate in English. And in a very, very simple sentence, would be able to upload a picture of an apple, a picture of a banana. And explain, this is a fruit, it is an apple, or whatever they were experiencing. And it was pretty amazing to see the validation of their learning from that week.

Practice number eight. Focus on the content resources and links to current events and examples that are easily accessed by learner's computers. So if content is not digital as-- so if the content is not digital, it is as if it doesn't exist to our students. This means that content that students will more likely use is content and applications that are available from their computers. So we also have to think about what we're posting for them. If it's a PDF, is it accessible on their phone? If they're only using their phone to access the class, what format are we utilizing?

One of my favorite tools is Google Drive, sharing documents through Google Drive. Because you share that link, they open it. And no matter if they're accessing it from their phone or they're accessing it from a computer or a tablet, it's easy. It's accessible. So are we actually uploading a PDF onto our learning management system, or do we want to upload a link. Which one is-- is all formats accessible through the use of what your students are using for the class.

So students want to be learning everywhere, especially those students taking those classes online. They access the course at any time, and often, while they're doing other things. Many of our students are working parents, and they're watching your videos while they're cooking dinner at home. So we want to make things as accessible as possible for them. So content that is mobile, and content that can be accessed through all devices welcomes students to access that content.

And this really also falls into place with expectancy value and the rationale that include a discussion of the importance and the utility value of learning. Them wanting to take the content that they're learning at that time and apply it, not just the content of that you're teaching but also the content of the technology use as well. They want to be able to apply it. Many of our learners are learning the technology as they're taking our course, and they're learning in our course. They're learning new things, they're learning how to access new links, and a new learning management system.

So practice number nine. This best practice combines a number of basic learning principles explained in length and other resources. So very briefly, it means that faculty identify core concepts to be learned and, of course, the performance goal, and then mentor learners through a set of increasingly complex and even customized projects applying these core concepts. Supporting learners with their personal goals that are closely linked to the performance goal of the course, and even beyond the course, is a win-win for learners, individually and as a class.

So we want to combine our course concepts with our personal learning goals that our students have. So it's really us as instructors getting to know our students. Being able to match up their learning with their own individual lifestyles and what their learning goals are for themselves.

So another key principle that aids in the concept of learning comes from Vygotsky. He notes that concepts are not works but rather organize and intricate knowledge clusters. So this is a simple but profound principle. This means that while we must teach in a linear fashion, presenting concepts individually and in small clusters is going to really allow our students to link them up to those real life scenarios.

And here's just a little bit on principles of information processing. We want to break it up, as much as we can, into small little clusters that they're able to grasp and comprehend. So we want to present information in manageable parts. That's why one of the things that I do in the beginning of my course, my first couple of classes, I'm really just focusing on them learning the learning management system. And then learning the different applications that I'm going to use in the class. So I'm kind of setting them up for success by pre-training the concept of the technology before I start to develop mastery in the course content itself. So first I want to develop the mastery on the tools that they're going to use, the different links that they're going to access, and then I start to bring in all the other different pieces or the different objectives that I want to teach for my class.

Our final best practice is plan a good closing and wrap up activity for the course. So of course, as a course comes to a close, it's easy to forget the value of a good closing experience in the final weeks of the course. Students are likely to be stressed and not take the time to do the list and the planning to help them reduce and calm stress. Remember to take time and remind students of the final course activity.

But designing a course activity that closes your course and encompasses some type of learning reflection and the integration of the knowledge that they have learned, both the content and the technology itself. Maybe utilizing the tool that you're using to teach, your online learning tool for them to present from. So these are going to be some really good student presentations, some student summaries. Analysis of the course, where they're able to provide their insights and their knowledge to really show us what fundamental principles they've taken from the course.

So this was a really quick synopsis of the 10 best practices. Each one of these can be taken into an individual training. And we can take each one of these and apply different technology tools that we can use into each of them. So just a reminder, this is only a quick synopsis. But if you want the full presentation, or if you need-- please make sure you contact OTAN.

I'm going to leave you with the quick thought. So e-learning can cover up to five times the material of instructor led training and the same amount of time. So if we utilize our learning management systems properly, we can cover five times the amount of curriculum that we normally would. And it's just setting it up for student success. So having said this, I'm going to go ahead and close out today. And I'm going to hand it back over to Anthony here at OTAN. And it's all yours.

Anthony Burik: Thank you, Yecsenia for all of that great information. OTAN would also like to thank all of its viewers. And if you have an edtech tool or tip that you'd like to share with the adult education field, email your OTAN Tech Talk idea to us at support@otan.us. Please also subscribe to the OTAN YouTube channel where you can watch a number of videos on a variety of technology related topics, including previous OTAN Tech Talks.

We'd also like to remind you that OTAN is a leadership project for adult education in California. And if you are at a WIAO funded agency, you can contact OTAN for additional services, including face to face and online hands on professional development at your site. Visit the OTAN website at www.otan.us or contact us by phone or email. Thank you again for watching today's OTAN Tech Talk.