Connection Before Content
When teaching in a virtual environment, it’s often easy to shift one’s focus to the content. This occurs because virtual teachers don’t physically see their students every day. However, connection with students must come before content. Students must have a space to work as well as a connection to their peers and teachers before they can embark on their learning journey. This sense of connection is essential for learning to be sustainable. Despite amazing digital content, engaging online lessons, and rich, robust assessments and feedback, the drop-out rate can be high for all but the most self-motivated students unless a strong connection with the teacher or course facilitator, peer collaboration and support, and a support system for those times when things don’t go as planned are all in place.
Strategies for creating a sense of connection include (1) adopting a blended approach (a combination of in-person or web meetings in order to support the facilitation of the content), (2) employing rich communication systems that keep all learners informed and connected, and (3) having a caring, engaged teacher who understands the virtual learning environment and knows how to use support systems to help learners. These may seem like simple strategies, but to create school-wide support for virtual learning there must be visioning, short- and long-term planning structures in place, and persistent and consistent reinforcement of the vision.
The notion of “connection before content” is a natural feature of an in-person class but perhaps is even more important in the virtual environment. It’s needed to add a human factor to digital content. Students need a sense of connection because it is often this connection that helps them get through challenging times, whether they be social-emotional, academic, or involving physical or mental health. This sense of connection is important at any age and at any level of learning as it helps make content meaningful and fosters content retention beyond the duration of the class.
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