Ask Errol!

I have been teaching online for 6 years, and these 5 years have been the same economics course. While I really enjoy online teaching—my “regular” job is an economist for a bank—I have increasingly become frustrated with the course I am teaching: again and again I have found areas where the course can be improved, for both the students and the faculty teaching this course. I want to let my supervisor or someone in the school know this, but I also don’t want to have someone look poorly at me, perhaps costing me future teaching assignments. Any suggestions?

Your question is more common than you can imagine, and there have been instances when faculty members have made suggestions for course improvement, but their approach in doing so had them come across as arrogant, as a “know it-all”—obviously, not good. The best approach is twofold: how the question is couched and writing to the appropriate person. First, begin with positives, and include your experience as a professional economist (although this would work for any profession), such as, “As a professional economist for X years I can definitely appreciate the overall value in Y course’s layout, content, and assignments.” Once you have done this, as well as included a few other positive comments about the course in your role of instructor, then offer something such as, “I am very committed to offering my students the best learning experience possible in X course, and would like to offer a few suggestions that I believe could enhance what is already a really good course.” The wording here is crucial: in making the suggestions you are doing so to improve a course you deem already good (you don’t want to ruffle a fragile course developer’s ego!)

Once this is completed be sure it goes to the right person. In most instances it would be your direct supervisor, but here’s a tip in writing this person: send a “pre-suggestions e-mail,” that is, an e-mail that indicates you’d like to offer some suggestions to improve X course (including a sentence or two indicating you believe it to be a good course), but don’t know to whom such information should be sent. You are doing this for two reasons: (1) Showing your respect for the school’s chain of command; (2) Letting the supervisor prepare him/her for such a detailed e-mail from you. (Note: Some schools have a preset link in the course or e-mail address to send course improvement suggestions; be sure to check for one of these.)

Thanks so much for the information you’ve given me and other online teachers over the years. It’s been really helpful, and I often finish reading a column with material I had not previously considered, and I’m hopeful the same will happen this time! My problem is more of a challenge, as I want my school to accept my use of Prezi in the live presentations I give my students (two per week, as I teach an online graphics design course), but the school has always used PowerPoint. When I made the suggestion to use Prezi— presentation software that I believe to be a step beyond PowerPoint—I was told “noone is really familiar with it” and “perhaps later on when it becomes more common.” I am very familiar with Prezi (I could teach others) and know its use is on in the increase in educational and business environments. How do get my school to use Prezi?!

Prezi is but a small example of a larger problem that at times can appear widespread on college campuses: technology that continues to grow at a rapid rate but colleges and universities that are slow to adopt it. There is some justification for this approach: what may seem “cool” and “whiz bang” to an online educator might not yet fit with a school’s overall ability to incorporate same into its IT platform; and there might not be enough people at the school familiar with the program to allow for troubleshooting and training of other staff. (A good example: although Word 2013 has been out for nearly 2 years some schools still only accept Word 97-03, 07, and 10.) Obviously, there are educators like you who know well the substance, value, and inner workings of a program, and thus can easily make it work well with their students.

What you did not mention is whether your school has forbidden you to use Prezi; if not, then you can use it, and showcase its use for the rest of the school. However, if you were told flat out not to use it I’d take a three-part approach: (1) Make a Prezi that shows the value of using a Prezi! You have an ideal situation where you can use the product you’d like to incorporate as a way to present its value. Important in this presentation—and I base this on experience, as I have done hundreds of PowerPoint, Prezi, and other presentation-type software webinars—is to include its value over the use of PowerPoint, the most common problems (and how they can be corrected), and your ability to take a topic from your class and easily explain it through Prezi. (2) Be sure this goes to the right person, as you don’t want it ending in the “dead letter ” office of your school! (3) Write a nice e-mail to your supervisor, telling him or her of your idea—and qualifications in using Prezi—and asking for the right person to send your presentation. (P.S. Thanks for the complimentary words!)

Although I’ve been teaching online for about a decade, I have been given an assignment for a new course in the middle of 2015 that has a heavy emphasis on students working on collaborative projects, something that is foreign to me. There is much on the Internet, and I’ve copied down some suggestions I think would prove helpful for me, but can you give me what you might consider the most important items I need to consider in helping students succeed in a group projects environment?

You picked a subject that is growing at a fast rate in online courses, for one important reason: the use of collaborative projects is expanding rapidly in the professional world, and thus more colleges and universities are including this in courses to give students practice they can use on the job. That’s the easy intro part to your question; the rest is much more complicated, as it must include tips and strategies for students and faculty members. (I have written a comprehensive Mini-Pebble on this, and I’ll be happy to send it to you or anyone else; just drop me an e-mail.) Here are some general guidelines:

For faculty: Create groups (when possible) that are balanced, thus students are available to help weaker ones … create discussion threads for each group where the members can discuss the group project … have each team choose a team leader (to keep the group on track, oversee timelines, and inform the instructor of any member problems) … monitor the group discussion threads, and be sure to send out e-mails to the team leader asking for updates … send class e-mails and post announcements that show the relationship between the collaborative project in class and in employment. For students: Post the possible problems, with solutions, groups may run into … give suggestions as to how team projects best work (i.e., dividing responsibilities, team members going over each part and draft, letting someone outside the group view it for suggestions, including audio and/or video and/or visual) … remind students of the #1 reason for students losing points on any course assignment: not following directions/not including all requirements … be sure to proofread.

I started reading your columns in my first year as an online instructor (my school posts your columns for all in our department to read), and I appreciate the assistance you’ve given me. Thanks! And with this experience I have and reading your columns it’s easy to presume I can answer the question I’m about to ask: what is the best advice you can give for someone new to online teaching? My wife will be starting as a first-time distance learning instructor (in math) pretty soon, and while I’ve offered her much in the way of help there might be something I’m missing that is pretty obvious, but I just overlooked it. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the positive feedback! It’s always nice to know my columns do help others improve their online teaching skills—that’s my sole purpose in writing them. As for your wife, you ask a question that has an easy answer—really two—and that I suspect you’ve already shared with her: (1) Be an active and visible presence in the course; (2) Be timely in all feedback, responses, and other communication. Just about every other piece of advice I could give a new online educator falls under these two broad umbrellas—and while they may seem obvious there is much involved to fulfill each to its maximum. To be an active and visible presence involves the students seeing the online teacher in all components of the course and referencing all components of the course—but not so overdoing it that the postings, e-mails, et cetera, become meaningless. Also, the distance instructor must use language that is upbeat, motivating, and enthusiastic, with a bit of humor tossed in.

Being timely is crucial, and the #1 complaint online students have about online educators is lack of timely involvement. When students know they can depend on the teacher to respond to e-mails, to give rapid feedback, and keep them frequently updated on course items the students know they can depend on and trust the instructor—always an imperative; and have the information they need to keep their learning on track and to enjoy a most positive course experience. The easiest area to overlook in this category is the e-mail— while instructors know to expect assignments on X day, e-mails (as well as in-class questions, such as in a discussion thread) can come at any time on any day. It is important to check for these missives several times a day, and on Day One of class let students know your policy for responding to such communication (i.e., 24 hours, 36 hours, etc.). Finally: if some problem comes up that makes a swift reply impossible, let the students know—they must always feel the distance educator is on top of all communications.

Remember: The Great Pyramid would be known as the Wee Little Pyramid if there weren’t a crew of folks available to help build it.