Creating Community in a Digital Environment

As many teachers move to a more blended approach in their classrooms, it is important to understand the pedagogy that goes with online learning. The greater the portion of the classroom activities that go online, the more concerted the effort to developing the teacher student/relationship in the environment needs to be. It is all about RELATIONSHIPS.

Think of the first day or week of school activities that you do with your students in your face-to-face classroom. The "get to know you" activities". Why are these necessary? It is our first opportunity to get to know our students, to begin the connection process. All people, not just students, engage differently online than face-to-face. If we are to understand them, and recognize times of success and difficulty, we will need to know our students as well in our online environment as in our classrooms. There will be students who are active and engaging in the classroom who do not like to participate online. There will be students that never engage in your classroom that will become not only participants but leaders online.

As you plan your opening week, develop a way to connect you and your students in your online environment. Begin the relationship building just as you would in the classroom. It will set the tone for your expectations, lead to fewer inappropriate activities online and start the online connections. The book recommendation and presentation below are resources to help you begin this process.

Book Recommendation:

 Continuing to Engage the Online Learner (available in print an as an ebook) is an easy to understand guide that consists of two parts. In Part I, the authors use the theory of Connectivism to provide a foundation, based on research, for building engagement. The book is designed to provide an overview, but also to serve as a reference, returning at different stages of implementation. Of special interest in Part 1 is the identification of how engagement evolves in phases. While we are focusing on Phase 1: Connect at the beginning of the school year, the engagement continues through Phase 2: Communicate, Phase 3: Collaborate, Phase 4: Co-faciitate and Phase 5: Continue. In this last phase, the guidance provided by the instructor diminishes as students become more empowered in their learning. Part II is a compilation of suggested activities that align with the 5 phases.

Presentation: