Learning Kearn(el)s

Validation. "Likes," comments, and "shares" on Facebook. FEEDBACK. As humans, we crave having that interaction, that communication from others that what we said or did was worthwhile, or at least that someone was paying attention. Submitting assignments, evaluations, and activities in the educational environment is no different. Students, and instructors, need more than just a numeric or letter grade. Constructive feedback fosters improvement for the future. Sources of feedback Feedback can come in many forms: a grade, a comment. Feedback can be written or verbal. It is interesting to note that, when coming from instructors, audio feedback seems to have the most impact on students for long-lasting improvement (Johansson, 2017). Other sources of feedback included evaluations, which is typically to determine effectiveness of instruction; the use of feedback devices like polls and clickers (Sun, Martinez, & Seli, 2014), and written or media feedback on assig...

The online classroom is most effective when frequent, in-depth discussion is encouraged, modeled, and promoted.  Discussion in the online environment is vital to creating a sense of community among students and instructors. Without discussion, learners feel isolated and disconnected from content, one another, and the instructor. The course feels like working in a bubble in which there is a sea of information with no life boat for rescue when in trouble. More than one method of online discussion exists. Instructors can utilize synchronous methods (video or phone conferencing, chats, etc.) or asynchronous methods (discussion forums, social media, etc.). Additionally, instructors and students alike can communicate via feedback on assignments and activities. All of these promote a stronger sense of connection and community. Synchronous discussions do not have to be with the entire class, it can be just the student and the instructor, offering a great way to ...