Humanizing Online Instruction

When I hear people talk about online instruction I often hear how they love the ability to access content whenever they want, wherever they want. This is usually followed by, "but I don't like not being able to interact with my instructor and peers in person." This is fair. Even so, there are many ways to build community in an online course. This is by in large the responsibility of the instructor. 

In humanized online courses, a phrase developed by Michelle Pacansky-Brock, students who experience a positive instructor-student relationship feel safe and trusted, allowing them to focus on absorbing information in a way that leads to real understanding. There are four principles Pacanksy-Brock states, that lead to learning: trust, awareness, empathy, and presence. Her highly popular infographic, includes 8 elements she suggests instructors apply to their online courses to help humanize it. Below, see the elements and how I incorporate these to my online instruction to help build community. Note: if it's too much text, scroll down to view the slide deck with examples instead!

Liquid Syllabus

A liquid syllabus is meant to be a condensed, online version of a syllabus that is mobile-friendly and not protected by a password. Often, this is a website. I create one for my students with information I think they will want quickly: contact information, dates, the grading policy, late policy, etc. Recently, I've also begun using NotebookLM to create an audio podcast course overview which allows my students to get a sneak peek into the course before it begins. I make sure to keep the full, official syllabus posted internally within our Learning Management System for those who prefer the formal document. 

Humanized Home Page

A course homepage should be free of clutter and contain information to help students navigate your course. Mine includes a word cloud image of words former students used to describe the course (meant for encouragement), course and contact information, our latest course announcement, module access, and links to important documents. 

Getting to Know You Survey

I don't incorporate this strategy in the courses I design. In two of my current graduate courses, my students blog. The first post is an "introduction" post so I feel as if I get most of the information that could come from a survey. That said, in the courses I teach for at Michigan State, there is an "About Me" section of our course documents which is a learner inventory students complete. I do find these helpful and they fit the ethos of the programs I teach in there.

Warm, Wise Feedback

It's a little surprising that folks need guidance on this! As mentioned earlier, my students blog to reflect on their learning. I leave comments on those posts that would be considered warm and wise. Any concerns I have, I save for private correspondence. I also like to point out exemplars in my weekly recap emails. These explain what I am looking for in work samples and offer some kudos to students. I've received feedback in reviews that students have worked harder on assignments to get a shout out!

Self-Affirming Ice Breaker

These low-stakes opportunities can encourage students to share more about themselves and allow them to see you, the instructor, as a real person. In some classes I've had a "Class Spirit Challenge" optional discussion activity with different prompts (favorite music and pets were always popular threads), have given polls related to our content, or provided "this or that" prompts. I always make these activities optional.

Wisdom Wall

Wisdom walls are opportunities to let current students hear from former students about how to succeed in your class. The word cloud mentioned earlier is a form of this because former students give a sense of the culture based on their word choice. In a word cloud, the words that are used more often appear larger. Another method I've used is a Padlet board where students can leave text, video, or messages with memes or images to leave some advice. While not everyone completes this, I still have found it highly effective. Finally, while not a traditional "wisdom wall," I do give an incredibly detailed end of course survey in which I ask about course design and content. I look at this as a wisdom wall because I use these surveys to drive my future iterations.

Bumper Videos

Bumper videos are brief videos that are meant to introduce a topic or clarify a concept. I use these in each weekly module. I produce a short (e.g., 3-4 minutes) introduction where I explain what the weekly topic is and what I expect from students. It is meant to be the first asset they engage with each week so they can plan their worktime accordingly. 

Microlectures

Similar to bumper videos, these are short videos (e.g., 5-10 minutes) meant to help students understand concepts. I tend to not have many of these. Instead, my modules have text, images, and links to relevant resources. Often, I'll include book notes which are quotes, thoughts, and concepts I've pulled from books related to our topic. I don't believe in having students purchase books for my courses unless they are books that will be used in their entirety. Since this isn't usually the case, I'll share book notes.

Etc. 

One other element I'd like to mention is the importance of communication. I'm a big believer in sending a pre-course communication one week before we begin. In this email, I provide the following information:

• My name, how to pronounce it, and how I'd like to be addressed (for me, just 'Nicole'). 
• A description of our modality (e.g., asynchronous, office hours, when modules are released).
• Course run dates (I open my modules two days early each week to give students more time to work if they choose to do so). 
• Links to the visual syllabus.
• A course overview video.
• Book requirements.
• Tips for success.

I also communicate weekly through module recap emails where I talk about course statistics (e.g., for example if we take a class poll), work exemplars, and additional resources for students. This shows my students that I am actively involved in our course, and learning beside them.

There are so many ways to humanize your online instruction! While you do not need to incorporate all of these ideas, work to incorporate some.