Maggie Reneau, PhD, RN Online MSN Program Director Saint Xavier University School of Nursing
Objectives After the presentation, the learner will be able to: Describe how to build an online community to maximize student retention using the class roster and introduction area of an online course. Develop examples for faculty presence in the online classroom to maximize student learning during small group activity. Evaluate faculty responses to simulated online student discussions, in small group activities
Methods for Maximizing Student Learning and Retention Faculty online presence leads to student learning, Student satisfaction and student retention Build an online community Encourage, reinforce and create ideas through online discussions (Herbet, 2005, Thompson, 2011; Palloff & Pratt, 2011).
Online Community Responding to each student in the introductions helps to establish the online community. A warm and friendly tone, while acknowledging commonalities with students, will foster trust. A trusting class is one who is empowered to communicate their thoughts and viewpoints in rich, robust, online discussions, which in turn maximizes learning. (Thompson, 2011)
Faculty Presence Maximizes Learning and Retention Happens on a daily basis at least Mon Fri. and once on the weekend Occurs when faculty are perceived as Caring (Edwards, Perry & Janzen, 2011)
Faculty Caring or Presence Online Use student names. Consistently sign your faculty name Acknowledge feelings that come across (e.g. most often frustration with technology for nursing students). Provide specific feedback, referencing back what a student said. Be flexible to a point (Sitzman, 2010)
What is Faculty Presence? Strive for 15 20% of all discussion posts
Examples of Faculty Presence to Maximize Learning Problem solving: Pose a problem or challenge to solve Cause & effect: ask for causal relationships between ideas Hypothetical: What if this happened, what would you do? Role Play: Encourage student to look at an issue from the viewpoint of a specific individual in their workplace. (Mayne & Wu, 2011)
Examples of Faculty Presence cont d You can also respond to discussion posts earlier in the week from students using the following techniques: reinforce key course concepts mentioned in student posts insert a relatable experience/perspective of your own, as instructor (Mayne & Wu, 2011)
Benefits of Maximizing Student learning Positive perception of faculty Positive perception of university Student retention (Cobb, 2011)
Mock Student Posts for Faculty Presence (small groups) Discussion Question (for purposes of this exercise, assume no reference is required in the student reply and a minimum of 75 words is required) Describe your experiences with being a member of a team, what made the group productive, what barriers existed to the team being more productive? A)Student reply: I work with a group of real losers, what group?! I end up doing everything myself to make sure it is done right. B) Student reply: Group or team work experiences for me,usually start out rough while everyone is trying to figure out their role in the group. According to our readings for the week, this is a normal part of the group process. I think the most productive team has good communication between everyone and happens when everyone is on the same page. Barriers to a productive team might be poor leadership and lack of communication among members.
Evaluation of Faculty Learning (small group summary report)
Summary One post for every 7 student posts =15% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Avoid vague responses such as what are your thoughts, or good post
Questions? Reneau@sxu.edu Maggie Reneau, PhD, RN
References Cobb, S. C. (2011). Social presence, satisfaction, and perceived learning of RN to BSN students in web based nursing courses. Nursing Education Perspectives,32(2), 115 119. Edwards, M., Perry, B., & Janzen, K. (2011). The making of an exemplary online educator. Distance Education, 32(1), 101 118. doi:10.1080/01587919.2011.565499 Herbet, M. (2006). Staying the course: A study in online student satisfaction and retention. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 9(4). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter94/herbert94.htm Mayne, L. A., & Wu, Q. (2011). Creating and measuring social presence in online graduate nursing courses. Nursing Education Perspectives, 32(2), 110 114. Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K. (2011). The Excellent Online Instructor: Strategies for professional development. John Wiley & Sons: San Francisco, CA Sitzman, K. (2010). Student preferred caring behaviors for online nursing education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 31(3), 171 178. Thompson, J. T. (2011). Best Practices In Asynchronous Online Course Discussions. Journal of College Teaching & Learning (TLC), 3(7).