Building a sense of community within your online course
While online courses offer a host of benefits, instructors may find it more difficult to build student relationships when teaching remote or asynchronous courses. In this article, we will discuss several ideas to help make your online course more conducive to relationship-building.
1. Introduce yourself!
You might be tempted to dive right into course material with your course, especially if you anticipate a heavy student workload. However, taking the time to properly introduce yourself as an instructor is an investment in the success of your students. Consider uploading a video, audio recording, or written biography that presents your personal and academic background. Don’t be afraid to discuss your pastimes and hobbies if you feel comfortable. You never know what your students might have in common with you.
2. Extend the invitation
Provide a platform for your students to respond to your introduction and present themselves to their peers. You may choose to create a discussion board where students can post their own videos or writeups. Alternatively, a live zoom meeting at the beginning of the course can be a great way to break the ice. Depending on student responses, you may need to create several meeting times to ensure everyone has the chance to connect. Creating breakout rooms after your introduction can be a great way for students to get to know one another in a less formal setting.
3. Embrace multimedia options
Throughout your course content, consider incorporating a variety of multimedia. Videos, audio recordings, animations and guided powerpoint presentations are all ways for you to increase the human aspect of your teaching. Students can pick up on the subtle cues in your body language or tone of voice that convey your relationship to the information being presented. This will help them to better understand what you value in the course.
Videos and photos showing yourself, faculty members, or others engaging with course material is another great way to help build a sense of community you’re your remote learners. Think of how providing a video tour of a factory in a mechanical engineering course could help students connect the dots of their understanding of certain processes, while allowing them to “meet” different employees and learn about the factory’s impact on the larger community. Likewise, consider how a video interview with a school psychologist could offer insight into the less formal but equally important aspects of the profession, such as their personal doubts, challenges, and misconceptions surrounding the role.
When incorporating multimedia options, it is always important to plan how you will make your content accessible to all learners. For more information on this topic, visit this article about our Accessibility Academy.
4. Share your screen
Screen-sharing is often the most time-efficient way to familiarize your students with the course and the online learning platform. This is especially important for those with little to no experience with online learning. By presenting a recorded screen-share, you can help guide students through course navigation, submitting assignments, or using databases, for example. Narrated screen-shares can help the learner feel as if you’re sitting down with them to offer guidance, even if you post them ahead of time.
5. Keep the door open
Be sure to establish a channel of communication between you and your students, whether it be through email, a messaging platform, or an office phone number. Offering in-person or virtual office hours is another great way to create a community atmosphere. Offering more than one option can increase the chances that students will feel comfortable communicating with you. Responding in a timely and professional manner, with a warm tone, will encourage students to return should they have other questions.
6. Touch base regularly
If time permits, try to check in with your students individually or in small groups. Sending email check-ins with positive, specific feedback as well as follow-up questions to the student can be an effective option. These follow-up questions, whether formal or informal, prompt the student to continue the conversation with you.
7. Foster peer-peer relationships
Encouraging collaboration between students is another way to build community and a sense of belonging. You might choose to create groupwork assignments where each student acts as subject matter expects for a group of peers. Alternatively, you could ask students to participate in a peer-evaluation process for an assignment,
Surveying your students to identify their study habits and availability can help you to select groups that are more likely to succeed. Facilitating meetings and introducing online collaboration tools to your students, such as interactive whiteboards and file sharing systems, can help to improve their groupwork experience.
Incorporating these ideas into your online course can help to make your students feel more comfortable with you as the instructor, their peers, and the course material. You are also likely to find teaching to be more enjoyable when your students are engaged and more open to sharing. Lead by example! Engaging thoughtfully and often with your class will encourage your students to do the same. After all, positive relationships form the basis of every supportive and successful learning environment.