Reflection # 1: Teacher’s Perspective
As an online instructor for adult learners’; I would like to encourage my students to become actively engage in the online classroom through our weekly Web-conferences and weekly discussion posting, by providing thought provoking analytical skills and strategies to some of our most challenging assignments set forth in the program. My goal as an instructor is to continue to provide and introduce course materials that are align with the curriculum, and to continue to provide the needed support and guidance to my students in a positive learning environment. Positive teacher-student relationships — evidenced by teachers’ reports of low conflict, a high degree of closeness and support, and little dependency — have been shown to support students’ adjustment to school, contribute to their social skills, promote academic performance, and foster students’ resiliency in academic performance (Battistich, Schaps, & Wilson, 2004; Birch & Ladd, 1997; Hamre & Pianta , 2001). In addition to sharing a positive learning environment for my students, I for one would also like to provide students with the understanding and how significant and important of learning effective time management skills. Good effective time management skills are crucial in the online learning community. Online learners need to understand that is the learner’s objective to learn and study all course curriculum material in an effort to become a successful student. Systematically, in the online classroom environment, I will continue to provide training and orientation to help facilitate my students learning growth and development to increase their knowledge of the material presented throughout the course.
Reflection # 2: Parent’s Perspectives
For this particular case scenario, I believe that all the students in the online learning classroom vary in age from young adult and more of a matured older crowd of learners. Majority of the students that I have spoken with on a one-on-one basis; I’ve learned that the higher education program that they are now enrolled in is their first higher education class since high school. A large percentage of the students are now in school due to job loss or stuck in a dead end job. These students are looking for a new set of skills in effort to arm themselves for future growth in advancement at their current place of employment or seeking a career change. Some of the barriers that I would like to see my students to overcome are to take an active role in completing their assignments in a timely manner. Ideally, classroom environments need to be nurturing while at the same time holding students to high academic standards. Classrooms that focus on nurturance without offering opportunities for academic learning do not produce increases in students’ achievement (Lee & Smith, 1999).Some students tend to fall behind in their studies because the class is online and they access their course material anytime. What they fail to realize are some the roadblocks that they can be faced with that often time prevents them from completing their classroom activities on time. And those roadblocks can come in the form of loss of Internet connection, overtime at work, or any unforeseen mayhem that are not preventable.
Reflection # 3: School Leader’s Perspective
As an educator, I find that most higher education schools are more concerned with the student’s overall grade point average more than they are concerned with the student’s academic understanding of the program curriculum. When the college finds that there are a percentage of students failing courses, the academic instructor/professor are often times investigated whether or not the course curriculum, assignments, and test material met the requirement of the school protocol of standards when administering the deliverables of the course material. More than often, online instructors, including myself, are faced with the struggle of teaching students with varying levels of ability of having the right equipment or software to complete online classes. The biggest challenge is helping those students of lower ability to master the content knowledge that is necessary to continue with the basic skills of knowing how to maneuver through the online classroom. Student engagement represents the time and effort students devote to activities that are empirically linked to desired outcomes of college and what institutions do to induce students to participate in these activities. On a lighter note, I would like to see colleges and university that offers online program become aware of the technological resources that students should possess before offering online classes, maybe, the collegial platform should offer an online orientation class before the students can actually enroll in an online program.
References:
Battistich, V., Schaps, E., & Wilson, N. (2004). Effects of an elementary school intervention on students' "connectedness" to school and social adjustment during middle school. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 24(3), 243-262.
Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1997). The teacher-child relationship and early school adjustment. Journal of School Psychology, 55(1), 61-79.
Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2001). Early teacher-child relationships and the trajectory of children's school outcomes through eighth grade. Child Development, 72, 625-638.
Kazmi A. Sleepwalking through Undergrad: Using Student Engagement as an Institutional Alarm Clock. College Quarterly [serial online]. December 1, 2010;12(1) Available from: ERIC, Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 25, 2011
Lee, V., & Smith, J. B. (1999). Social support and achievement for young adolescents in Chicago: The role of school academic press. American Educational Research Journal, 36(4), 907-945.
