After completing my first ever semester of teaching (and doing so while designing and implementing an asynchronous online course to boot) I’ve had a crash course experience in what it means and what it takes to be a successful educator in an asynchronous environment for adult students. During this time, I’ve discovered new methods and ideas to incorporate into my ongoing personal pedagogy specifically focusing on my purpose, building trust in the classroom, accommodating diverse abilities through offering modality options and schedule flexibility, and how to motivate students to engage.
The following essay contains assertions in those topics which are actually built upon prior personal pedagogy statements. These essay's assertions are unique to me as they have been developed after this past semester's practical experiences in learning to try to be a better educator. (All of my previous pedagogical writings such as My Personal Philosophy for Teaching Composition Within the Context of a University Political Science Curriculum and my Teaching Statement for Composition were created with hypothetical situations in mind before I had the opportunity of being a graduate assistant.)
Asynchronous Educator’s Purpose
It’s my belief that my purpose when acting as educator is to foster learning experiences and to provide educational materials that are designed to encourage individualized student development of:
Creativity, critical thinking, and confidence;
Practical skills applicable to real life civic, social, and professional situations that are common in public and private settings; and,
Knowledge in various subjects (determined by course topic being taught) to provide a foundation of context for responsible and rational decision making and innovation.
When applying within a digital environment such as a fully asynchronous course, my responsibilities expand to include:
Facilitate a welcoming digital environment conducive to student self-discovery, self- guided learning exercises, and respectful peer interaction.
All of these aspects of an educator's purpose align with the stance put forward by Boyd et. al in their work Real Teaching for Real Diversity: Preparing English Language Arts Teachers for 21st Century Classrooms:
"It is imperative...when teaching... [for] in-service teachers to understand and position themselves [towards]... teaching that promotes critical consciousness, social justice, and equity" (2006).
I embrace the idea that what students learn in the classroom should have a measurable impact in how they carry about their lives outside the classroom too.
Building Trust and Respect
In order to teach successfully, an educator must strive to be flexible in practice and open-minded in engagement in order to provide a safe space for students to be vulnerable and explore personal places needing growth.
For students to feel safe and secure in being able to experiment in trying out new ideas and practices, students need their teaching figure to provide structure and support in ways that are realistic, relatable, and accessible.
To limit anxiety over assignments and class performance, a detailed syllabus and class schedule will provide a stable source of information for students to refer back to each week and confirm that they’re on the right track. Using similar formats of organizing information each week also provides a sense of structure and reliability for students to be guided with (Deen, 1992).
To engender student trust, being open about instructor experiences, expectations, mistakes, and areas needing improvement goes a long way to earning a good rapport with learners. As long as personal details aren’t overshared, being open and honest about having to go through life with ups and downs humanizes the instructor-persona they perceive you as and makes you a bit more relatable…a bit easier to approach when they have questions, need help, or feel insecure and need reassurance. Using personal examples when teaching a topic can further the opportunities for a student to find instances to connect with you over.
Showing compassion when students come forward and express vulnerabilities or difficult personal situations also is critical to fostering a sense of trust in you in your place as an educator. Being flexible with student needs, especially when they face personal life challenges, is a literal game changer for many students. Showing empathy, gratitude, and pride in their courageous steps to overcome hardship and still participate in class has proven to be a significant motivator for students moving forward after an incident of any sort.
Accommodating Diverse Needs during Lessons
It’s important to keep in mind the diversity of experiential backgrounds, cognitive processing habits, and confidence levels of class members when designing class content.
College level students vary from youth who are pursuing their first undergraduate degree to retirees who are going back to school in order to fill their time and engage their restless minds. All student’s come to class with their own unique lived experiences, opinions, and insecurities that shape how they feel about themselves in the roles of student, peer, and personhood. Everyone has different skills, strengths, and weaknesses. As the de facto authority in a class, an educator has to be mindful of their students’ combined diversity. Being liberal with supplying multiple modalities for students to use is key to helping lower potential barriers students may face when trying to engage with learning materials.
Barriers could include:
Having limited time
Technology accessibility
Physical, mental, or emotional disability or related difficulties
Difficulty reading or writing
Language barriers
Conflicting responsibilities (such as work, family, or other commitments)
Regarding multiple modalities, this means educators should incorporate different modes of presenting information, such as offering a reading from a textbook, listening to an interview, or watching a tutorial on YouTube into their lessons. A good rule of thumb is that different learners learn differently. Providing different ways to engage with the same concept needing to be learned allows students to choose to ingest information in a way that is easiest for them to process while still providing them the challenge of puzzling out the different perspectives offered through the other less-preferred modes of delivery. By being dynamic through using multiple modalities each lesson, students
have the ability to cater the broader asynchronous course experience to support their individualized needs and situational limitations;
Encounter enough unfamiliar or uncomfortable learning situations to foster stretching past their comfort zone into trying and learning new things; and,
Can be flexible with their time, energy, and abilities depending on what modalities they choose to learn with each week.
Another aspect of decreasing barriers to increase lesson accessibility is choosing to use curriculum building resources that are free! Finding and referencing free textbooks, open access journal articles, NGO reports and blog posts are all useful resources that students don’t have to have disposable income to benefit from.
Motivating Students to Care About What They’re Learning
The majority of students are pursuing a college education for some kind of self-benefit. Whether it’s to gain better employment prospects, spend time avidly engaged with their special interest, or gain legitimacy in a field they want to enter, students want what they’re doing in class to be personally applicable outside of the classroom, no matter the course topic.
Any class can be personalized through careful and creative choice of assignments given (Deen, 1992). For example, providing real life applications for self-reflective homework questions, creating prompts for essays that have a practical or emotional tie to student life, and introducing resources that can be applied to future plans of civic, professional, and personal aspirations are just some creative ways to remind students that they’ve got skin in the game through assignments (Boyd et, al, 2006).
In an asynchronous course online, there are certain activities that lend themselves well to developing that personal connection to learning materials. Developing a personalized portfolio website to showcase both their class work and their personal achievements is a great way to incorporate the immediacy of class work with the personal need to prepare for one’s future. Another activity is use of self-reflection journal entries. Asking students to write responses to homework readings that showcase what new things they learned, what they found interesting, and how they can apply new principles to their own efforts moving forward is useful for actively promoting their self-awareness of personal growth opportunities. Lastly, giving students the freedom to choose their own topics for research papers and argumentation essays allows students to infuse their unique passion and opinions into their school life. Getting to share their interests with others and be proud about their academic project accomplishment engenders a closer appreciation for the knowledge and skills they’re gaining in class (Moll et. al, 1992).
Conclusion
Teaching students asynchronously requires particular effort in developing lesson content flexible enough to meet multiple diverse learning needs and personalized enough to encourage student interest in participation. Supporting students in their achieving success also requires intentional actions on the part of the educator to humanize themselves, be encouraging and empathic in response to students communicating their successes and hardships, and be open to altering assignment structure, content and due dates to accommodate revealed student needs. While not all students may choose to take advantage of the opportunities presented in class, doing the above things will increase the likelihood that students will take greater interest and care in their learning and be successful applying their increasing knowledge and skills outside of the classroom.
References:
Boyd, Fenice B., Mary Ariail, Robert Williams, Korina Jocson, Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Kezia McNeal, Bob Fecho, et al. “Real Teaching for Real Diversity: Preparing English Language Arts Teachers for 21st-Century Classrooms.” English Education 38, no. 4 (2006): 329–50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40173226.
Deen, Rosmary. (1992). Notes to Stella. College English, Vol. 54, No. 5. pp. 573-584.National Council of Teachers of English.https://www.jstor.org/stable/378156 Accessed: 10-10-2021 23:46 UTC
Moll, L.C., Amanti, C, Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31, 132-141.
Comments