"What do I care if they feel isolated taking my online course? They are there to learn."
This is a comment from a professor that attended one of the SLN workshops that I attended to watch the training. This one of the comments that stands out to me during my internship with SLN.
The discussion centered around the idea of having a space in your online course for the students to introduce themselves and get to know each other. This activity should be one of the first activities that take place in an online course. The reason is so you can get to know your classmates as you would in a traditional face to face classroom. In the classroom, you will say hello and introduce yourself to your neighbors. You might trade phone numbers or emails early in the semester in case you miss a class you can learn about important informatin that you missed. One of the principles of online learning is that you should mimic some things that happen in the traditional classroom. This is because many students report feeling isolated when they take an online class. So logic says the student will have a better learning experience if you make them feel less isolated.
Yet this professor in our training, new to online teaching, said who cares about feeling isolated. It was not his job to hold his students hands and make them feel warm and safe (now I am paraphrasing). His job, as the teacher is to teach and that is all.
Is this idea wrong? Immature? Or brutally honest? I do not agree with it. I think it is a teachers job ot make a student feel warm and safe if that is what is required to have that student learn more.
As I think back to all my college professors, a major one who stands out is someone who took me aside and asked me if everything was ok with my home life, with my friends. He did all this because I got a C on one of his exams. He made all his students who scored below a B- make an appointement with him during office hours to pick up your exam and talk to him. He wanted to know why you were not performing. And he cared.
Fast forward to today, while I complete all my graduate work through online classes, one thing that stands out to me is that I feel isolated. But not from the students, from the teachers. Sure they are quick to answer and email. But they seem absent from my day to day learning, most notably in online discussions. Yet they have an answer. They tell me " the research says", or that "there are two camps, I am in the camp that thinks teachers should not interupt a discussion". Learning needs to be guided.
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