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Online Communication & Motivation

In a traditional classroom teachers can rely on seeing the students, watching body language, hearing the inflection or tone in a student's voice. However, online classes primarily focus on a student's written responses. An instructior has no visual cues as to frustration, boredom,  or clear understanding of the content. Humor and satire can be lost in written dialog.

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Teachers can over come some of these issues by holding video conferences, Skype or Facetime calls or other synchronous meetings with tools such as Blackboard, Join.me, or GoToMeeting. One of the challenges can internet speed on both the instructor's side and the student's side.

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Online tools such as Discussion Boards and social media invite communciation between students and teachers. However, teacher participation and presence online is critical. One of the challenges in an online course is time lapse of response or feedback. Whereas, in a traditional setting, students receive instant, face-to-face feedback.

 

In a traditional classroom, participation is encouraged by the teacher because they are physically there. Online students need to perceive the value of what is being taught to be motivated to participate. Teachers may tie participation to assessment by establising ground rules, having students log in a particular number of days, post discussions or reflect on other students comments.

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Another way of promoting communication and collaboration online may be similar to what is done in a traditional classroom and have students work in groups. This encourages collaboration and dialog between students.
 

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