It’s Alive

A response to the It’s Alive! Activity
created by Gary Danner (@gdanner)

Number of views: 236


My initial Learner Challenge was to have students come on audio and turn their cameras on during the online classes. As I worked through this, I realized I was going about this from the wrong angle and looking for a “one-size fits all” solution to address everything all at once. We can’t mandate students to turn their cameras on and it takes time for students to feel comfortable participating in an online environment. What I was then really looking for was more interaction and participation other than just typing in the chat, which is going to be a process over time and not just happen over 1 – 2 online classes. As well, it is going to require trying a combination of different tools and techniques. I had heard of Padlet but never used it in my classes. So, I tried using Padlet in one class where we were discussing things to think about when becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business. I was quite happy to see that I got almost 2/3 of the students that were online during that class to participate in the Padlet exercise.

The other area I looked at was my summaries I post for my students at the end of each week. Prior to this Technologist module, I was just typing my announcement each week. Ever since week # 2 of this semester at Fanshawe, I have been doing my weekly summaries in video format. I have told my students I am leading by example and I can’t ask them to do something I am not doing myself. If I want to encourage them to expand their comfort zone by coming on audio and video, then I have to do that myself. I also tell my students I don’t record my videos over and over until they are perfect; just go ahead and do it!

Finally, I keep reminding them, by practicing coming on audio and video now and getting more comfortable with that, it will help them with their group presentation that they are required to do towards the end of the semester.

Attached is my PDF with screen shots of:

  • My Padlet exercise
  • One of my weekly summaries in video format

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