For years there has been a “no-no” for online educators: the course is never about you, it’s about the students. This student-centered approach to teaching is ideal, for the student concerns, needs, and interests related to a course are of foremost importance. Yet it should never be a 100% student-centered course; allowing the life of the distance learning educator into a course can prove most valuable in student motivation, engagement, and student-faculty bonding. This becomes especially helpful in the distance learning environment where so much of the course is posted for students to visit and revisit; tidbits shared by the online educator can be nice reminders to forge ahead, to overcome, to adapt.
By incorporating what follows any online course can become richer and more enjoyable— for the student and distance learning educator:
Understand how personal experiences and events can help the class. When an online educator starts a course the usual thought is to the resources, readings, and assignments in the course, as well as the students. For a long time there has been, if not an unwritten rule, a sense that the online instructor’s personal life should be checked outside the computer. But it is important to remember what can motivate and engage students, and peeks into certain parts of the online instructor’s life can result in a better bonding, more enthusiasm by the students, and a mindset of “we’re all in this together.”
Jot down a list of items to share—and be careful of what you share. A look at an online instructor’s life can offer many snippets that can fit nicely into a class—academic, professional, and some personal. But it’s also important to know what parts of the online instructor’s life should be kept private; often, this falls into categories of family, money, and health. By making a list prior to a course beginning the online instructor can get a better sense of “share/not share” items. Also: during the course a student comment—in in an assignment, email, or phone conversation—may remind one of an item not on the list but okay to share. Use it, but also jot it on the list.
Never overdose: it’s a “we” class,” never an “I” class. Once getting started with sharing it can become easy to share and share and share—to the point of too much. There is a certain mystique about the online educator as “a real person”; for the most part that instructor exists for students as a walking, talking computer, not someone who breaths and bleeds. The material shared should be meted out carefully at times when most needed, when most appropriate. Beginning a unit or week, for example, by saying, “Let me tell you a story about me” can take away from the ultimate focus of the course: the learning.
A beginning: tease the class with an unusual, but positive life peek. The beginning of any course offers anxiety, stress, and nervousness for many students. They don’t know what to expect from the online instructor, they are plunging into a new subject, and their focus is on how to achieve a good grade. Certainly, every online educator has a “Welcome to my class!” announcement and email, but letting the students in on some unusual or interesting aspect of the online instructor’s life—ideally related to learning or the course subject—can help put the students at ease and begin the so-important bonding between student and online instructor.
First priority: the negatives of life that relate to the course. Once the course begins and students are looking over course material and first assignments a story from the online educator about his or her negative experience in a course and overcoming it can serve as great motivation. It’s important for students to know they should never focus on one or two poor grades—everybody has those, even online educators—but know “the great and powerful on high” course instructor goofed but overcame it shows that anyone can do the same.
Be on the ready to pull out a past or present item from a current student post. Student posts in online discussion can offer wonderful insights into students’ lives— academic, professional, and/or personal. Although not initially planned something a student offered may be perfect timing for a personal recollection from the online instructor’s quiver of personal background. It must fit the exact subject matter the student brought up; anything other than this would simply be a waste of sharing.
A “Let me tell you this about me” can work wonders in phone calls. The phone call: if an institution allows it this becomes a superb tool for sharing one or perhaps two personal items of the online educator. For it has been shown that in a call students will often share more about their lives than in an email or text. Something a student says may immediately go to a memory of something similar for the online educator, but here is where being careful sets in. For in the midst of a live call too often online educators have blurted out words, phrases, and overall info that should have been kept silent. So, even though the call is going great and the student is easily opening up about various aspects of his or her life it is still important for the online educator to be cautious in what is let out.
Ask students to share the unusual, interesting, or unexpected portions of their lives. Here is a turnabout that has proven to have great results in many important concerns of the online educator: student motivation, engagement, and instructor bonding. Asking students to share an unusual or interesting item from their lives in the first week of class—ideally, in an “Let me introduce myself” discussion thread or live seminar (such as with Zoom)—can not only relax them and give them more ownership of the class but by sharing it with all in class it resuits in the beginning of a course family of sorts. There is one other “ask” of students: for an upcoming assignment or course lesson ask students to share a problem or poor experience (in a discussion thread or live seminar chat) they had in school and how they overcame it or what they learned from it. This keeps the “we” aspect of the course strong and helps motivate all—and will always result in other students opening up about similar experiences.
Use the personal as motivators, as “If I can do it you can do it” pieces. This has been briefly mentioned, but it is too important to stand alone. Students will turn in assignments, discussion postings, etc. that are far from stellar. Additionally, once some students see grades emails may come in that have students being discouraged, disheartened, depressed. Instances like this are fertile ground to share instances where the online educator failed or did poorly in a course or an assignment or perhaps had points deducted for not correctly reading or overlooking some assignment directions. Added to this, of course, will be some “but I overcame it” thoughts. These are very helpful in re-energizing students and having students understand that it’s important to look at any constructive feedback as merely guides for improving—and reminding students that in all areas of life mistakes are made, but we become better if we learn from them.
Keep track of what you offer the class— and what the class offers you. Throughout the course take notes on what you offered that were not on your initial list, as well as what students offered. As for the instructor’s list there may be additional items that were not initially remembered, and thus such a list will prove especially helpful for future courses. And student postings are ideal opportunities to have a comprehensive assortment of their concerns outside a course; this will give the online instructor some “heads up” on items that perhaps should be mentioned at the beginning of a course or when certain assignments come up.
REMEMBER: Our lives have many windows, and allowing others to see through some can bring sunshine where there were clouds, warmth where there was cold, and excitement where there was disappointment.
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