Community is an important aspect of learning. The look and feel of online community, along with the process of building community online differs from that of face-to-face learning. This page lists a variety of suggestions for creating a positive and communal virtual learning experience for both yourself and your students.
Communicate Often
Create a communication plan.
- How do you plan to communicate to students? (e.g. Announcements forum, Moodle Quickmail)
- How often will you send out regular communication? (e.g. weekly, every Tuesday and Thursday)
- Once you have a plan established, share it with students.
Ideas for what to include in your regular communication
- Remind students of upcoming assignments and due dates.
- Provide a progress update – what have the students done already, and where are they going from here?
- Highlight accomplishments.
- Provide tips that will help overcome misconceptions.
- Let students know when you have graded their assignments.
Set clear expectations
- Make sure that students understand how to interact with the resources and activities you provide.
- When are assignments due?
- How will assignments be graded?
Be Present
- Create and interact in discussion forums
- Incorporate videos that you create
- Lead synchronous class meetings via Zoom
- Hold office hours via Zoom
- Provide assignment feedback quickly
Provide Interactive Spaces
- Course Support Forum – create a forum that provides a place for students to ask questions about content or assignments that can be answered by the instructor or other students
- Prayer Requests – create a forum for students to share prayer requests with each other
- Social Discussion (Just for Fun!) – create a fun forum where you pose a question to the class. For example, what is your new favorite pass time now that we are practicing social distancing? Post a description, photo, or video.
- Group Discussion Forums – for larger classes, separate discussions into small groups
- Collaboration Tools – encourage students to use real-time collaboration features on Office365 or Zoom
- Peer Feedback – create learning activities that encourage peer feedback
- Group Projects – group projects are still possible. Student can collaborate using Office 365 products (Word, PowerPoint), create presentations together using VoiceThread, or meet via Zoom
Resources
Inside Higher Ed: Professors Share Ideas for Building Community in Online Courses
EdSurge: How to Build Meaningful Community for Online Learners #DLNchat
eLearning Industry: 6 Tips To Build A Thriving Online Learning Community
University of Minnesota: Engage Students with Online Discussions