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Kate Blackham

Facilitating online groups - Day 4

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Yesterday was all about Managing Challenging Behaviour. There isn't much to say, I've taught cocky teenagers in a comprehensive well-known locally for being "tough". Full-grown adults do not frighten me. Not online anyway. That's what the mute button is for.

It did encourage us to think about how to get students to be more willing to interact with us in an online tutorial. I do think norms get set about how a tutorial is going to run. So like, in a cluster tutorial (a huge event with upwards of 50 students - barely a "tutorial" really), my own tutor group will interact with me more than other students - I'm guessing because I'm a known quantity to them. Other students may be more wary - I know I'm wary of tutors in my own studies. There are some who seem much less approachable than others. Funnily enough it appears to be unrelated to academic prestige/experience/knowledge. Some senior staff members seem approachable, and some junior ones don't. Ah we're back to social presence.  

One of the readings today is: Margaret Edwards, Beth Perry & Katherine Janzen (2011) The making of an exemplary online educator, Distance Education, 32:1, 101-118, DOI: 10.1080/01587919.2011.565499

Lots of food for thought in this paper. There are lots of things that the OU provides that would help to increase my students' engagement with both me and the course material such as the Early Alert Indicators tool. I'm still new to using it, having only really found out about it about mid-way through last year.

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