TABLE 2 Instructor Opportunity... | Emerald Publishing

TABLE 2

Instructor Opportunity Embodiment of Bain’s Categories for Honing the Craft of Teaching

Bain’s Categories	Description	Connection to the Instructor Opportunities
Good talk	The importance of communicating orally with students.	Absence of oral communication characterizes online courses. Feedback related to course schedule and assignment clarity as well as the desire for face-to-face interaction, point to the fact that these online courses could benefit from more oral communication.
Warm language	Warm language tells a story as opposed to cold language, which is to the point and less descriptive.	Online classes lend themselves to the use of cold language. Students’ request for face-to-face meeting options pointed to the need for intentional incorporation of warm language into the courses.
Making explanations	Good explanations provide context and examples to enhance understanding and progress from general to complex information.	There is a natural tendency toward conciseness in both written communication and in providing information in online courses. Especially for assignment details, students appreciate additional elaboration.
Getting students to talk	Engaging students to think and communicate with one another and the instructor about the subject matter and its big questions.	Discussion forums are the online course tool to facilitate students getting to talk. As evidenced by feedback, students desire more than that, including online synchronous face-to-face communication opportunities.

Bain’s Categories	Description	Connection to the Instructor Opportunities
Good talk	The importance of communicating orally with students.	Absence of oral communication characterizes online courses. Feedback related to course schedule and assignment clarity as well as the desire for face-to-face interaction, point to the fact that these online courses could benefit from more oral communication.
Warm language	Warm language tells a story as opposed to cold language, which is to the point and less descriptive.	Online classes lend themselves to the use of cold language. Students’ request for face-to-face meeting options pointed to the need for intentional incorporation of warm language into the courses.
Making explanations	Good explanations provide context and examples to enhance understanding and progress from general to complex information.	There is a natural tendency toward conciseness in both written communication and in providing information in online courses. Especially for assignment details, students appreciate additional elaboration.
Getting students to talk	Engaging students to think and communicate with one another and the instructor about the subject matter and its big questions.	Discussion forums are the online course tool to facilitate students getting to talk. As evidenced by feedback, students desire more than that, including online synchronous face-to-face communication opportunities.