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Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching
Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching
Sofiya Khanam, WRTG 293 6360 Professor Brender
Submitted by: Sofiya Khanam
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Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching
MEMORANDUM
To: The Dean of the Undergraduate School, UMGC From: Sofiya Khanam Date: October 6, 2019 Subject: Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching
Enclosed is the short report “Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching,” per your approval following my proposal memo from earlier this week.
The report attached below explains about the need to eliminate the communication barriers and to introduce interactive and effective teaching tools for the courses being offered at UMGC. It also provides some recommendations for solving the issues mentioned above.
Thank you for your time in reviewing this report and my classmates who helped me with the survey. I hope you find this report useful to assist with your decision regarding developing effective teaching tools. Please call or text me if you have any questions, I can be reached at (123) 456-7890.
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Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Purpose of this report
A lot of students take online courses at UMGC. The courses enable them to study while working. Some of these courses are ineffective and communication barriers are created as there is a lack of face-to-face communication. The purposes of this report are to:
determine which tools are effective and interactive for online teaching courses. recommend ways to eliminate the communication barriers that occur between the
teacher and the student.
Thorough primary research for this report was conducted to discover the best methods of online teaching, effective and interactive online teaching tools, and the best ways to eliminate the communication barriers.
Findings and conclusions
It was found from the research that all the five students who have answered the survey have faced communication problems at UMGC. It was also found that some teaching tools needed improvement. Primary research suggests that using interactive and effective online teaching tools lead the students towards success.
Recommendations for effective online teaching
Recommendations for effective online teaching include:
Using interactive tools like overview videos, reading repositories, assignment -submission interfaces, etc. would help in learning and understanding the course better.
Communicating better with students by using clear and easy language in their posts and making sure to reply to their questions would help in eliminating the communication barriers.
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Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Memorandum……………………………………………………………………………...2
Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………… 3
Introduction Background………………………………………………………………………... 5 Purpose...................................................................................................................... 5
Discussion……………………………………………………………………………..........6
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….........7
Recommendations............................................................................................................... 7
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Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching
Introduction
Background
Online education enables a lot of people to study while they are working. Many students take online courses at UMGC, which help them to study while working. That is why the courses need to be effective, easily accessible and be understandable at the same time. Some courses at UMGC, use very interactive tools like Wiley Plus and some do not. As these are online courses there is no face-to-face communication between the professor and the students and this results in communication barriers.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to determine which tools are effective and interactive for online teaching courses and to recommend ways to eliminate the communication barriers that occur between the teacher and the student. Effective teaching tools and elimination of communication barriers could help in a better understanding of the course which would lead to the success of the student.
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Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching
Discussion
As the courses at UMGC are online courses, the medium of communication is through posts and announcements by the professor. Students sometimes fail to interpret what is written in an announcement or a post. In the case of math-related courses like accounting, the tools are not very interactive which results in confusion among the students. Sometimes the due date of the assignment shows a different date under the post and the announcement post made by the professor contains another date which again leads to miscommunication. When ineffective teaching tools are used, the students will find it difficult to understand the course material. This would also result in confusion among the students. The communication barriers and the ineffectiveness of the course would not help in the success of the student. As UMGC’s goal is the success of students, it is very important to make sure that every measure is being taken to lead the student to a successful degree.
The issues mentioned above can be solved by using tutorial videos, which contain all the instructions regarding the assignment. One more solution is to create and post an overview video to the course, which explains the objectives, assignments, and outcomes of the course. Creating an easily accessible online chatroom would help to make the communication easier. Scheduling a group video chat session at an agreed time by all the students and the professor would also help. Using interactive tools like overview videos, reading repositories, assignment -submission interfaces, etc. would help in learning and understanding the course better. Communicating better with students by using clear and easy language in their posts and making sure to reply to their questions would help in eliminating the communication barriers. In regard to the teaching tools, using tools like Wiley Plus, McGraw-Hill Connect, Zoom, etc, would help in making the course more effective. The cost of all these interactive tools is affordable for UMGC. Using a chat tool like Backchannel Chat would help the instructor and students to communicate in a better way. Improving the chat tool that already exists in the UMGC’s LEO would also help the students to reach their instructors. Through this tool, the students will also be able to reach their classmates, where they can discuss about the assignments and the course material.
Primary research was conducted through a survey among a few students to know about the communication problems they are facing and about the problems regarding the teaching tools. The survey was posted on the student discussion boards where everyone could find it. The instructor’s help was taken to announce and notify the students about the survey. The survey included some questions on communication problems, and teaching tools, and recommendations. The results of this survey were used to determine communication barriers and effective teaching tools. Research participants took two to three days to respond to the survey and only five people have participated in the research. The timing constraints were a problem because there were only three weeks to research and write the report. If there was more time, more research participants would have been located to gather information and valuable recommendations.
The survey contains the following questions:
Are you facing any communication problems at UMGC (in regard to the online classes)?
How do you feel about the teaching tools which are being used at UMGC? Do you feel that they need improvement?
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Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching
Please provide any recommendations you have to offer about the courses and communication at UMGC.
The results of the survey show that the students have faced problems in communicating with the professor and they had a few issues with the structure of some courses. Specific results of this survey are:
One of the students did not receive any answer from the professor when he sent the message through “Instant messages” and “Email” which delayed his course work. He felt that professors must connect with the students and should help them to connect with each other and make students feel that they are members of a supportive learning community.
Another student felt that some professors are not easily approachable. She suggested that having a video conference at a time agreeable by all the students once a week would help solve this problem.
One student felt that the course work is lengthy for the given amount of time, which is 8 weeks. She felt that a 10-week course would help.
Another student felt that too much reading is being assigned every week. One student found it difficult to navigate through LEO, as the structure is different for
each course.
The results of this survey suggest that there is a lack of good communication and effective and interactive teaching tools to understand the course better and to complete the course work without difficulty.
Students all over the world might find it difficult to meet at a particular time for the video conference, this can be resolved by recording the video conference, many tools like Zoom provide the option of recording the conference. The students can refer back to the video to clear any doubts.
As the courses at UMGC are online, the courses greatly depend upon the written communication, including posts, announcements, and discussion board contributions. Therefore, there is a chance of miscommunication and misinterpretation which will come in the way of the success of the students. This is why it is very important to make sure that communication barriers do not occur.
Conclusion
Some courses at UMGC are ineffective and there is a lack of face-to-face communication.
The research and recommendations would make online learning more effective which results in satisfaction among the students.
The interactive tools would make the students understand the course work better. The recommendations like using online chatrooms would help in eliminating the
communication barriers, the overview videos and the tutorial videos will help in better learning.
Finally, by using interactive tools, overview & tutorial videos and by communicating better with students, online teaching can be made more effective.
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Effective Teaching Tools for Online Teaching
Recommendations
After conducting research and analysis on “Effective teaching tools for online teaching” it is clear that there is a need for developing interactive and effective teaching tools and eliminating communication barriers. There are many methods and approaches to effective online teaching. Below are recommendations based on survey and research:
1. Using interactive tools like overview videos, reading repositories, assignment -submission interfaces, etc. would help in learning and understanding the course better.
2. Communicating better with students by using clear and easy language in their posts and making sure to reply to their questions would help in eliminating the communication barriers.
3. Making sure that the faculty is socially present in the learning environment, which helps the students to form a learning community and to participate actively in the learning activities.
4. Professors must connect with the students and should help them to connect with each other and make students feel that they are members of a supportive learning community.
5. Supporting student success, providing clarity and relevance through content structure and presentation.
6. Becoming better prepared and more agile as an educator.
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