This Weeks Objective:
Decide how you will “build rapport” with your distance learners.
———-
You don’t teach a class. You teach a student.
- Rapport does not result in learning, but it certainly helps to create conditions conducive to learning—things like higher motivation, increased comfort, and enhanced communication. Teaching doesn’t always result in learning either, but, like rapport, it is one of those factors that can contribute positively to learning.
- Students do not care how much instructors know until the students know how much their instructors care, Thompson.
- The majority of contemporary online classes focus on transmitting a knowledge base to the student rather than stimulating the process of learning, Jackson.
Connecting to students and ”building rapport” is a crucial element of teaching for the best online teachers. Highly effective online teachers have a strong trust in students. They believe students want to learn and know they can learn until proven otherwise.
In What the Best College Teachers Do, Ken Bain (2004) discusses some of the major ways that teachers can connect with students through the practices of effective teaching. Below is a list of suggestions to help you connect with your students.
- Spend time online with students to nurture their learning.
- Invest in your students by not fostering a feeling of power over them.
- Have the attitude that, “There is no such thing as a stupid question.”
- Create an online environment where everyone can contribute and each contribution is unique.
- Foster the feeling that teachers are fellow students and human beings struggling with mysteries of the universe.
- Provide task praise (you did that well) and avoid person praise (you are so smart.)
- Give students as much control as possible over their learning.
- Provide lots of non-judgmental feedback.
- Encourage collaboration and cooperation.
- Provide many opportunities to revise and improve work.
- Avoid language of demands and promises.
- Make a promise to your students that you will try to help each one achieve as much as possible.
- Understand your students’ ambitions.
So how do teachers close the “distance” gap and build rapport?
Rapport in Distance Education provides insights into the importance of rapport in DE as well as challenges to and indicators of rapport-building in DE. The study relied on interviews with 42 Canadian high school DE teachers. The authors identified six categories of rapport-building in DE. Please click on each links below for a list of indicators.
- Recognizing the person/individual
- Supporting and monitoring
- Availability, accessibility and responsiveness
- Non-text-based interactions
- Tone of interactions
- Non-academic conversation/interactions
In the paper What the Best Online Teachers Should Do the authors discuss some of the major ways that the practices of effective teaching can be applied to online teaching. When you connect with your students and establish rapport, you will be able to get to know them in ways that will make it easier for you to gather information about your students in a variety of ways that may help you with their success throughout the course.
- During the first week create activities to get to know student by having them tell a little about themselves.This could include;
- Pretest about the student and course,
- an introductory discussion,
- an introductory survey,
- a course overview that identified several questions that the course would help them answer.
It is not sufficient for teachers to get to know their students without letting them get to know their teachers as well.
Here are a few ideas to help your students get to know you.
- During the introductory activities tell students a little about yourself.
- Post your teaching philosophy.
- create a “getting started” course module
- Use video to introduce yourself.
- share your thoughts and stories about yourself.
- Participating in introductory class discussions
Throughout the course consider using the following to connect with your students.
- Keep written records of communication (emails) that include relevant information to make personal connections.
- Connect with learners who have extenuating circumstances, are “missing” from the online class, or are experiencing a life event where celebration is in order.
- Students may reveal past difficulties with the subject matter, personal issues that may affect their performance, or job and family obligations that can vary from week to week.
- Deadlines and due dates may need to be extended
- Timely feedback on assignments is extremely important.
- Tell your students you believe they are capable of doing the work and you are willing to help them.
- Personalize your emails,provide encouraging words, and encourage them to strive for higher grades.
- Be clear to your students that all information you get is to help them not judge them.
Facilitating interpersonal connections and creating a social presence of your identity is essential. Self-disclosure, through sharing personal stories and experiences, can promote bonding. The use of humor can be an effective strategy to convey openness or to establish a level of comfort that nurtures the learning process. It is clearly not simply a question of whether or not teachers do these things. Rather, it is how and why teachers create presence and build rapport with their online students.
Five factors for building rapport
The researchers in this article asked business faculty about their perceptions of what teachers must do to establish rapport and connect with students. These Five factors appeared almost twice as often as others.
- Respect. Teachers and students must show respect for each other, for the learning process, and for the institution where it is occurring.
- Approachability. Students have to feel comfortable coming to faculty and faculty must be willing to speak with students, after class, during office hours, via email, on campus.
- Open communication. Faculty must be honest. There needs to be consistency between what faculty say and what they do.
- Caring. Faculty must care about students; they must see and respond to them as individuals. They also need to care about learning and show that they want students to learn the material.
- Positive attitude. Faculty should have a sense of humor and be open to points of view other than their own.
In summary, when it comes to connecting with learners, the best online teachers understand the characteristics of their students and adapt accordingly. Learners differ in their ability to adjust to college, the level of guidance and support they need, the amount of experience they have with online learning and the course management system, and many other characteristics.
One of the most important elements of connecting with students and building rapport is to be flexible. Be flexible when you are getting to know their students, when they are getting students to know you, working with deadlines, and when you are creating an atmosphere that enhances learning.
Transition from Tradition: 9 Tips for successfully moving your face-to-face course online
How do You Get Students to Show Up?
- Make a plan and stick to it
- Communicate in short, timely messages.
How do You Keep Them Engaged?
- A picture is worth a thousand words.
- Create assignments that are challenging yet relevant to them
- Feedback: give it early and often
How Do You Control The Chaos?
- Start off with a virtual tour.
- Require students to complete the orientation by practicing what they will have to do.
- Create a narrow path to your course.
- Let students help each other out.
Resources
- Human Touch
- Instructor Presence in the Online Class – Key to Learner Success
- Rapport in Distance Education
- Establishing Rapport
- An Easy Method for Building Relationships in Online Courses
- Tips for Establishing a Rapport with Online Students
- Perceptions of Roles and Responsibilities in Online Learning
- Learning To Teach Online Episodes
- Faculty actions that result in student satisfaction in online courses.
- Online Teaching Effectiveness: A Tale of Two Instructors
- Power Up! / Technology Skills Every Teacher Needs
- The Skills Both Online Students And Teachers Must Have
- The 10 Skills Modern Teachers Must Have
**Assignment**
1. Complete your Week 2: Decide how you will “build rapport” with your distance learners plan.
**Comment on your peers plans in their Google document by using the criteria below.**
- How does your comment contribute in meaningful ways to further make sense their plan?
- Does your comment add insight? Did you take something from the plan and relate it to
readings, resources, or from what someone else has said, and analyzes it? - Or does your comment make a criticism, an observation, an interpretation,
or draw a conclusion? - Or you can ask a question that proposes answers. The good question asks “why”
and “how” and demonstrates you have thought about, and have done some
research, on the question. Answers are proposed and asked for feedback.