EDET674 Virtual Teaching/Learning Week 7 Blog

Week 7 Blog

Essential Question: How can we support students in being successful in our online course?

            Before digging into how we can support our students to be successful in online classes that we teach, we first need to look at what type of students are we teaching? Are we teaching high schoolers or adults, students or professionals, high achievers or at-risk students, etc.? The majority of students are adults who already have a job and are seeking for development of skills and knowledge in their field or in a field they are interested in. A main reason for taking an online course is for the flexibility of completing the course. A few misconceptions that first time students of online courses have are that the course will be much easier than in person or the distance education is of lesser value of the same classroom offerings. (Moore, 2012) This of course is not true.

            A way to support our students to be successful can start with the at-risk students. At-risk students can be students who are taking a course for credit recovery, who seem to be potentially not finishing the course, or even students who don’t have the skills required to take an online course. It’s a known the fact that the retention rate of students on online courses is low. Russon-Glecher explains that many schools are attempting to raise this rate by providing student support services face-to-face and at distance, training for instructors, increasing technological supports, and provide orientation for students (2013). Flynn also provides ways to support at-risk students such as “a brief individual videoconference interview during the first week of the class, incorporating instructional strategies that appeal to multiple sensory modes and cognitive capabilities, creating an online support learning community, providing links to internal interactive supports, and helping at-risk students learn time management skills.” (2016) By increasing student and teacher interaction, it is more likely that the student will feel a part of the classroom community and have more potential to succeed.

            Another way to help students succeed in online-courses is to put ourselves in the place of the student especially at-risk students. Barbour summarizes the experience that Kevin, an at-risk student, had while doing classes virtually. Kevin highlights that his teacher asks many questions, provides diagrams, and posts pictures which has kept him engaged. Kevin was asked about how often he chats to his classmates in an hour period and responds that they talk for about ten to twenty minutes. One thing of notice is that Kevin took the path of least effort to solve problems and also that his level of productivity gradually decreased as the hour passed in the course. Sometimes Kevin was limited by the technology he had at home. (2012) By putting ourselves in the shoes of Kevin, we can find methods and ways to support Kevin to be successful.

Barbour, M. K., & Siko, J. P. (2012). Virtual Schooling through the Eyes of an At-Risk Student: A Case Study. European Journal Of Open, Distance And E-Learning, (1),

Flynn, E. (2016). Should at-risk students take online courses?. College Student Journal, 50(1), 130-134.

Moore, M. G. & Kearsley, G. (2012). Distance Education: A system view of online learning. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Russo-Gleicher, R. J. (2013). Qualitative Insights into Faculty Use of Student Support Services with Online Students at Risk: Implications for Student Retention. Journal Of Educators Online, 10(1).