Recognising the success of your Online Learners


October/ November is prize giving time and time to reflect on my online students and their NCEA successes.
At my school any online student who has achieved all of  their course is acknowledged at prize giving with an "Achievement in Online Learning" award. Those who achieve mostly at Excellence level  receive an "Achievement with Excellence in Online Learning" award. For 2017 that was 25 students from a total of 39.

This year four of my students got top in their subject- both in their online class and at our school- very exciting when you consider that they do have to overcome the obstacles of working at a distance and my school has a role of 1200.

Some of my students missed one or two internals for a variety of reasons and there were two who haven't to date achieved anything- although they hold out hope for the externals. Despite my best efforts some students still fail to complete their courses, or they have personal issues that affect their learning, or they opt out but it doesn't become apparent until late in the year.

Every year I reflect on my practice and how I can improve in order to support those struggling students more effectively. Being part of the Deeper Support group has helped with this process. It has been wonderful to share ideas and develop strategies with a group of very motivated eDeans.

I will share another post with the findings from our group research  but suffice to say that relationships are key to online learning in the same way that they are in the classroom.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The end of term one

Where has the term gone?........ In the life of an eDean Term One is always crazy: There are enrolments to do- each one taking at least an hour of my time when you include talking to the students, consulting the deans, processing the enrolment and then setting up the student with their individual course needs. This year I did 45 enrolments and I've already had to change three of these. There are spreadsheets and rolls to organise and teachers to consult. All the students need help with their first couple of hangout lessons A lot of time is spent getting to know the students and helping them get started in their courses. This is so important, they are more likely to ask for help if they know you and realise you are expecting their questions.  There are many differing request from eTeachers to follow up on- including ordering text books and  supervising internals There are course mark books to set up and standards to check There are reports to write and process ...
Read more

Checking on what the students are thinking...

Image
End of term two is a good time to check on what the students are thinking....... I asked my eStudents five questions: 1. Are you still enjoying your course? 2. Are you achieving as you would wish to be? 3. Do you need any support at the moment? (Explain) 4. How is Online Learning helping you as a learner? 5. Is there anything else you would like me to know? I found this a useful exercise as an eDean. The students who responded quickly were the ones who are managing themselves well in an online environment. I followed up with others but overall my students were still very positive at this point in the year. They could appreciate that online learning was helping them to become more organised and more independent. Even students who are struggling a bit in terms of achievement are appreciating the agency they have over their own learning and that they are learning more than just the subject they are enrolled in. Below are a sample of their replies. Am I still ...
Read more