This course focuses on the basics of simple positive student interaction and its power to build a safe and positive learning community in the online classroom. Participants will build a positive learning environment by interacting in intentional ways with all students all the time. Participants will set this tone by using student names during each interaction, thanking students for reaching out, and focusing on tone during interactions. Participants will personally welcome each student to the course within an introduction forum where all students post an introduction and then receive a personalized welcome to the course from the instructor. Participants will reach out to at-risk students weekly with a positive and informative message that seeks to keep lines of communication open and offers assistance. Participants will use a way-to-go email towards the completion of each course to interact with those students who perhaps have not been in contact with the instructor because they are high performers. Participants will apply practical strategies in dealing with difficult students by responding with the elements of The Kindness Challenge by Shaunti Feldhahn. Participants will begin to model the desired behaviors during our course interactions. I will ask participants to create the templates for messages that they can use right away in their next teaching assignments. I will ask how participants plan to implement these ideas in their next courses and then follow-up by email to see if they successfully implemented these strategies and what changes they saw as a result.
- Teacher: Chanin Monestero