You Had Me At Hello

Recently, I completed the @ONE course, Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning, that was facilitated by Michelle Pacansky-Brock, @ONE’s Faculty Mentor, Digital Innovation. From the moment I logged in to the course, I knew that something drastic was about to change for me. The course homepage had a .gif of Michelle waving and smiling, a banner with colorful and inviting colors, and a greeting that made it seem like someone was talking directly to me. How, I wondered, can I do that? How can I design a homepage so my students feel as welcome and engaged as I did?

It turns out, this was only the beginning. When I first enrolled in this class, I felt a lot of pride about the way I conduct my online classes. I've been complimented in the past for the videos I create to explain essay prompts and welcome students into the class. However, as soon as I logged into our Humanizing course and began exploring, I was amazed by how much I still had left to learn.

Structure

The course started with a helpful orientation module enhanced with 3 instructor-made videos, several images, a Flipgrid assignment, a Google Form, an infographic, Canvas tutorial videos, and consistent, beautiful banners throughout. Naturally, I compared this to the orientation materials that I use, and I discovered that I’m really only using a couple of content pages that introduce students to Canvas. Never had I considered putting an entire module together to get students oriented with the course, Canvas, and policies! Essentially, I learned how I can chunk my traditional syllabus into Canvas Pages and design it into an orientation module! This approach allows students to read through the module in small pieces rather than read, say, a 14-page syllabus!

Sparkly New Toys!

In the Humanizing course, I was also introduced to a ton of new tools to use in Canvas that can help to humanize us as the instructors and our students as well.

Flipgrid, which is like a video discussion board, was a tool that I felt a little timid about using at first. However, after watching my colleagues post their video responses, I realized it was very similar to having an in-class discussion. As someone who is particularly shy in a student setting, I can empathize with my students who may feel the same way. However, once I got past simply recording my video and talking to the camera, it was smooth sailing!

The tool asked me to take a quick photo of myself and add a sticker or two to create picture that would represent my comment. Being able to customize the picture allows for students to have creative license that a text-based discussion simply can’t provide in the same way. I then simply submitted my recording and could see a grid of all the other participants who had posted their videos. All of the pictures of participants were arranged in a checkerboard grid, so I could become familiar with my peers’ names and faces. This is something that I had never known how to do in an online setting.

After working with Flipgrid for a couple weeks, I used it to create a "Checking In" assignment in my current online class, and my students loved it! I will definitely be integrating Flipgrid on a more regular basis in my classes, especially in the first week as an icebreaker.

Adobe Spark is another tool that has completely changed the way I conceptualize my online teaching. Adobe Spark is free and includes three separate, but equally useful and easy-to-use, tools for digital storytelling: Video, Page, and Post. Not only will I be using the Post and Video tools to introduce course concepts, but I will also be using Spark to integrate project-based learning in my classes. For example, this semester, students will be have the option to create multimedia reflections of an on-campus event as part of their final project using Spark Video or Page

Last, I had heard of Canva before, but I had never thought to use it in the ways that Michelle did in her course. Canva is a free design tool that allows people to create flyers, resumes, invitations, and so much more. What I didn’t realize, however, is that, as online instructors, we can use the tool to create engaging banners, buttons, and YouTube video thumbnail images to enhance the design of the course. This, to me, is one of the best ways to truly humanize online learning: create a color palette for the course and design consistent banners that use the same color scheme. This creates cohesion in the course and allows students to intuitively follow the structure of the course while also being engaged by the beautiful and professional designs!

Equity

The tools have really made me realize how effectively they can reach, and more importantly, retain students of color and thus begin to reduce the equity gaps that are exacerbated by online classes. These tools allow students to creatively and personally engage with the material in dynamic and intimate ways that contrast the sometimes cold experience of text-based discussion boards.Rather than simply reading text on a screen, the digital tools allow students to incorporate tone, facial expressions, and gestures, while simultaneously revealing the nuances of their identities as students and human beings. Additionally, by allowing students the creative space to use digital tools to express themselves, instructors and peers can more deeply empathize with each other. For example, in an Icebreaker, if a student discloses on Flipgrid that she is experiencing stress from her course load, work, and children at home, others can respond in a humanized way with an empathetic video.

I can't emphasize enough how much I am taking way from this @ONE course. I am thrilled to rework my online assignments and begin integrating these tools on a weekly basis. I'm even more enthusiastic to see how these changes will influence the dynamics in my courses and how many more of my students I will be able to retain!

If you are looking for a way to make your online class more warm, inviting, and community-oriented, I highly recommend Humanizing Online Learning. You’ll be engaged and learn ways to reach your students that are dynamic, creative, and authentic. You’ll have your students at “hello.”

Learn more about Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning.

Being Present for Our Students

Being present for our students is a true gift we can offer and these experiences with students are one of the reasons why I’ve loved teaching and being part of an academic environment my entire professional career. As teachers, we have the capacity to change lives in ways that we may not always be fully aware of in the moment. I’m certain we’ve all experienced that moment when a student returns to share some action or word we said that had a deep impact. Our engagement with students can be a big responsibility that can be fostered in many ways: a kind word, a thoughtful smile, a note of encouragement, and even a criticism that comes from a place of wanting to push a student to learn something new.

For those who have taught classes in person, we may have an easier time being in touch with our students and the energy of the classroom. I may notice when a student is having a difficult day or week or even the entire semester. I can linger after class, arrive early, or have a student crying in our office. In those moments, my hope is I am able to practice with empathy and with understanding.

Beginners’ Mind

This being present for students may come naturally for you, and for others it may take some effort. But I know we all have this capacity for empathy and understanding. In my life, I have found cultivating this for myself first has allowed me to extend this more easily to my students. It has been through 25-years of meditation practice, allowing for a deeper understanding of my mind, that I’ve been able to bring this directly into the classroom. And just like our students, a beginners’ mind in myself can keep things fresh and help me to discover new ways to work with students.

How does this all extend into my online classroom? Do I know my students in the same way I might as if we are spending three hours per week in person? Am I able to identify a student in need or crisis through the work posted online so that I might reach out and connect to the student? And, within a primarily written medium, how am I being present for my students? We can create the conditions in our online classes that allows us to know our students better and be tuned into their overall learning experience.

Creating the Conditions for Learning

It’s the humanizing work. It’s the touchy-feely stuff that can help the student feel connected to the course material, to me, and to the college as a whole. The classes I’ve taught online – library science, technology, social media and marketing – are not necessarily touchy-feely topics. But as the teacher, we set the tone. In the online environment we need to offer a little bit more of ourselves explicitly. With in-person classes, students know I have a deep sense of humor, that I always wear black, that I like to pause in class and listen to student sharing, and that I like using the white board. These characteristics are part of my character. Online students don’t easily get this part of me, but these characteristics are critical for building a classroom relationship for our semester journey.

Creating a space where communication can be open and responsive to both student learning and student needs is key to building instructor-student relationships online. This means taking risks, and it certainly means taking more time. I write about myself, I share photos or videos so they know who I am as a person, and I incorporate personal life antidotes into the learning materials. More importantly, I create as many opportunities for students to interact with me so that I know who they are as humans. This can achieved through discussion, writing assignments, or video posts. I encourage students to share content they find that is exciting for them. Anything we, as instructors, can do to bring regular, meaningful student interactions into our online class is valuable. And we can build on this foundation to create a learning environment that is grounded in communication and trust. Creating an online classroom that is similar to how I spend 3-hours a week engaging with my students in a classroom is what I try to cultivate. My goal as an online instructor is to foster these human connections to inspire learning. In the end, when I support, guide, and inspire my students, I am nourished by our deep connections as they experience life's difficulties and joys.

YOU Matter - Online and Face-to-Face

Student-instructor relationships matter in community college classes -- regardless of whether a course is taught on-campus or online. But when you teach online, you need to be more intentional about crafting your online presence to convey yourself as a real person who cares about your students' learning.

Data shared by the Community College Research Center shows there are some concerning gaps between the instructor-student relationships in face-to-face and online classes. Research shows that community college students feel their relationships with instructors in their face-to-face courses are more "personal," "immediate," "detailed," and "solid" when compared with their relationships with their online instructors. When learning online, students report feeling the need to teach themselves. One student in a large research study shared, "It just seems ... when you do it online, if you need help, your teacher is basically not there."

We know these student takeaways are not ok. We know instructor-student relationships are the foundation of meaningful, supportive community college learning experiences -- regardless of a course's modality. And to support faculty, @ONE is now offering a online professional development course, Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning, to introduce faculty to the relevant research about instructor presence, social presence, and culturally responsive teaching; experience a humanized online class through the lens of a student; experiment with creating micro-videos; see examples of how other faculty are applying humanizing practices in their online classes; and work through the nerves we all feel when speaking to a webcam (it really does get easier!).

Recently, I sat down with Tracy Schaelen, from Southwestern College, to explore her views about humanizing online teaching and learning. As always, Tracy provided invaluable insights about why the instructor-student relationship is so important for supporting the needs of our students, especially those from underserved populations. In the 17-minute video embedded below, Tracy also provides us with a tour of some of her own humanizing practices, which we hope will inspire you to check @ONE's course catalog and register for the next offering of Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning. Tracy will be one of the facilitators of this new course!

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Online Teaching and Course Design

This post is the second of a series about principles in teaching and learning with contributions by Jim Julius and Michelle Pacansky-Brock

Like Fred and Ginger, peanut butter and jelly, the Patriots and the Super Bowl, some things are so closely linked that they simply don’t make sense without the other. For online education, how we design our course and how we teach our course are the inseparable pair--two sides of the same coin.

The professional development program developed by @ONE has long focused on both sides of this coin. In 2011, we used the iNacol Standards for Quality Online Teaching as the criteria for our online teaching certificate, and in 2014, we customized these standards to develop the @ONE Standards for Quality Online Teaching. The @ONE Standards were the foundation for the design and teaching practices that underpinned the @ONE Certificate in Online Teaching, representing both sides of the coin in one essential set of standards.

In 2014, though, the Online Education Initiative developed the OEI Online Course Design Rubric. This rubric focused solely on foundational criteria for course design, and pushed the shared standards for designing quality courses well beyond the @ONE Standards. Over the course of two years, as the rubric was used by faculty across the state, it went through some major revisions, and sets a gold standard for course design quality. In essence, the OEI Rubric advanced the initial design criteria offered in the @ONE Standards.

This caused a bit of a rub when using the @ONE Standards. Participants moving through the @ONE courses sometimes struggled with determining which set of standards or criteria they should be privileging. Participants in our courses were not always able to see which document was driving course design decisions--the Rubric, or the Standards. Moreover, as technology changed, and as more data about student success in online learning became available, we realized that the teaching practices outlined in the @ONE Standards needed some careful revision to better reflect the mission of the California Community Colleges (CCCs), including an emphasis on student success and equity.

So, this fall, we drew upon the collective wisdom of experienced online teachers from across our system in a collaborative effort to articulate a set of teaching principles that reflect the specific needs of our students, staff, and faculty. Our first step was to remove the course design elements--now the purview of the OEI Course Design Rubric--and focus our attention on the other side of the coin, the practices and behaviors that support quality online teaching.

Working from the original set of standards and resources that helped us better understand the national dialog around great online teaching (including those outlined by Jim in his post on Monday), carefully examining data about our online students, and drawing on the knowledge and expertise of our peers across the system, we developed a set of principles for quality Online teaching tailored to the CCCs. The principles state that effective online teachers:

Are present within their course;
Apply equitable methods to promote student access and success while acknowledging institutional obstacles;
Respond to student needs and use data for continuous course improvement;
Teach and model ethical online interaction, while helping students develop digital literacy that will poise them for success;
Recognize ongoing professional development is a central component of their success.

We would like to invite you to read the full text of the Principles for Quality Online Teaching, and hope the principles give you some ideas to mull over and discuss with peers. Most importantly, we invite you to participate in developing our communal understanding of these principles by joining us in a webinar, writing a blog post, or participating in a course.

We think the pairing of the new Principles for Quality Online Teaching with the OEI Course Design Rubric lays the foundation for your success and the success of our students, but the reality is, Ginger and Fred engaged in a lot of practice before they became Hollywood legends. The Principles provide the initial steps for the intricate dance of teaching and learning, but our continued conversation and engagement with one another is the music that breathes life into the dance.

Teaching--face-to-face and online--is hard work, and our students may need to surmount many walls along their path to success. The Principles remind us that the unique mission of the CCCs is not to separate the wheat from the chaff, but rather recognize the human potential in all of us.

How Snapchat, Zombies, and Twitter Can Humanize Learning

Recently, I sat down with Mike Smedshammer from Modesto Junior College to discuss his thoughts about humanizing online learning. In our conversation, he shared why this topic is so important to him and the students we serve in the California Community College system. He also shows how he used Snapchat, Twitter, and zombies to make himself more approachable.

Research about online learning shows that having an engaged, caring instructor is a critical part of supporting the success of college students, regardless of a course's modality or the type of institution a student attends. A recent Gallup poll showed that college graduates who recall "having a professor who cared about them as a person, made them excited about learning, and encouraged them to pursue their dreams" had more than twice the odds of being engaged in their work and being personally fulfilled. In fact, that poll showed that meaningful, supportive relationships with instructors played more of a role than the type of institution the student graduated from.

When we hone in on this topic and apply it to students who attend community colleges, it becomes an even more vital component of student success. At community colleges, we serve more students who are the first in their family to attend college. First-generation college students often experience self-doubt, come from lower income households, work full-time, and juggle a complex array of family responsibilities. Further, a 2017 report from Community College Equity Assessment Lab (CCEAL) found that about half of the 2.1 million students enrolled in California's community colleges have worried about where their next meal will come from and one in three feel uncertainty about where they will sleep tonight.

When underserved students learn online, the importance of having an approachable, caring, supportive instructor becomes even more critical. Studies show that community college students who learn online are more likely than face-to-face students to report needing to teach themselves, which is a result of having a poor connection with their instructor. On the flip side, online community college students who report having an instructor who cares about them are more likely to succeed in their class.

The evidence is clear. Instructor-student relationships improve student success, especially in online community college classes.

Creating a safe, trustworthy environment in which our underserved students feel comfortable to approach their instructor, ask questions, and share their challenges is an important part of serving a diverse student population. But when you teach online, you must deliberately and mindfully craft your human presence through the use of digital tools, which can feel like a daunting task. Fortunately, there are plenty of tips and strategies to consider. And @ONE has you covered with a new course coming this spring!

Enjoy the video of my chat with Mike. We invite you to share a comment at the bottom of this page. We'd love to hear your thoughts about the topic of humanizing.

Wisdom Wall

Relationships are key to fostering culturally responsive online teaching practices that support the success of our diverse student population in the California Community College system. This is especially true for Latinx students, whose concept of educación is predicated on such a relationship. Relationships are founded on trust and that can be difficult to establish in an online class, especially when students experience self-doubt about whether they have what it takes to succeed in a college class.

The Wisdom Wall is a practice that helps to reduce student anxiety at the start of an online class and build a foundation of trust upon which meaningful relationships are more likely to develop. Online instructors should take a variety of approaches to ensure students feel welcome at the start of a class and leveraging the power of student voices in this effort is especially powerful. When students hear messages about your class from their peers, they're more likely to be convinced by them. This is why the Wisdom Wall is such a powerful community-building practice. The concept is simple.

At the end of an online course:
- Reflect back: Ask your students to reflect on their semester-long experience. Encourage them to think back to how they felt that first week as they were getting oriented to the course, their new instructor, and their peers. How did they feel? And how did things change over time? What helped them succeed? What do they know now that they wish they had known then?
- Share forward: Provide a place for student to share these reflections. Make it clear to them that their audience is not you, but your future online students. The tool you use to create the place to share can be as simple as a Canvas Page that students are granted edit access to or a Google Doc. For extra community-building power, use a tool that invites students to comment in video or voice: like Flipgrid or VoiceThread. When students can hear each others' inflection and emotion, messages resonate on a deeper level. Voice and video also helps our students because it allows them to see and hear other students that are like them. This common bond helps student feel that they do belong and they can succeed! If you use a voice or video tool, these comments will need to be captioned or transcribed.
At the start of an online course:
- Share: Give your incoming students access to the comments from your past students. Include this in your Getting Started module/area of your course. Make it one of their first assignment for them to complete so they feel a sense of connection and empowerment right off the bat!
- Reflect: In a discussion forum or other student-student interaction tool, ask students to discuss on one thing from the Wisdom Wall that helped them feel more comfortable and why.
Bonus! Not only will the Wisdom Wall support your students' successful start to your online class, but you will also learn a great deal about your students' experiences and how they experience your online class!

Here is an excerpt of one of my past Wisdom Walls (designed with VoiceThread):

Have you used the Wisdom Wall in your online class? Please leave a comment below to share your experiences or tips for modifying this practice. Thanks for sharing.

Community Ground Rules

From the first moment a student accesses your course, the tone is set. Your course homepage, syllabus and other "getting started" materials play key roles in the how your students begin to relate to their experience in your online class. Setting an inviting and supportive tone is especially important in supporting the success of our first-generation college students and other underserved groups, who are more likely to feel self-doubt and exhibit engagement apprehension in academic environments. Including a set of Community Ground Rules in your course syllabus is a great way to communicate that your students will be valued participants in a learning community and articulate what that means.

Below is a set of sample Community Ground Rules I have used in my online classes. They are included in my book, Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies, and I have shared them in the Public Domain, which means you are free to re-use and adapt them in your own class without permission or attribution. Do you have modifications to share? Please share your ideas in a comment at the bottom of the page!

Sample Community Ground Rules

A community is a group of individuals who work together to support a common goal or interest. In this online class, we work together to support the successful achievement of our learning outcomes. In an effort to ensure our community develops, thrives and sustains throughout our time together, the following ground rules will be in effect at all times.

Treat contributions made by other members of the class with respect.
Reach out and help when you see the need. And ask for help when you need it.
Have patience and a sense of humor with technology. There will be hiccups, expect them.
Keep an open mind. If you’re feeling reluctant, that’s ok. Take it one step at a time and look at this as an opportunity to learn something new.
Contribute regularly to collaborative activities to ensure other members of the community have ample opportunity to read/listen, reflect, and respond to your ideas.
Respect the diverse opinions and viewpoints of each member of our community. Differences allow us to learn and grow together.
Understand that communications shared through text have a higher likelihood of being misinterpreted than the spoken word. Therefore, when you type a thought or a comment, read it carefully before you submit it. If you question the way it is worded, read it out loud to yourself. If you still question the way it’s phrased, rewrite it.
Contribute regularly to group dialogue, including blog posts and replies. The contributions of each individual play a role in the collective strength and diversity of our community.
Members of our community are restricted to enrolled members of our class, in an effort to maintain a safe, trustworthy discussion environment. [If students will be engaging in interactions in the public web, note those activities here (and in other parts of your course where those activities are explained) to ensure they know who their audience is before they contribute. Learning to share appropriately in the public web is an important component of developing of digital citizenship and it’s your job to ensure students are clear about who has access to their work.]
All image and video content shared within this community will reflect acceptable academic standards. You are expected to use discretion and, if asked, you will be expected to demonstrate how your content supports the theme of our community: “[enter a description of the community’s theme here].”
Any community member has the ability to create a new discussion forum in our course. However, the individual who creates the forum immediately takes on the responsibility of moderating it. This means you have committed to regularly responding to new comments and greeting new members of the forum.
If, at any time, you feel that any of these ground rules have been violated by a member of our community, you are encouraged to bring your concern directly and immediately to [enter your name], our community leader. Clearly identify which ground rule has been violated and include specific evidence of the violation in your email. Your concerns will be addressed promptly with careful consideration in an individualized manner.

These Sample Community Ground Rules by Michelle Pacansky-Brock are shared in the Public Domain and may be re-used and adapted without permission or attribution.

Introduction to Humanizing Online Learning

In this @ONE webinar archive,Michelle Pacansky-Brock examines why humanized online learning is critical to closing equity gaps in the California Community College system. Michelle discusses how faculty can cultivate presence, empathy, and awareness to achieve humanized online facilitation.

View the goody bag (it's packed with loads of humanizing resources!)

Nudging Students with Your Human Touch

In this @ONE webinar archive, Fabiola Torres, Ethnic Studies Instructor at Glendale Community College, asks, "We all need a nudge sometimes, right?" Nudges are an important part of supporting the success of our online students. And when you use video to infuse your nudges with your human presence, students are more likely to trust you and less likely to drop your class. Fabiola will demonstrate why it’s important not be perfect, but to be human!