Communicate Reflection

Answer: How has the Communicate module prepared you to meet each standard listed above? Please reference each standard by providing specific examples or links from your work in Communicate. Which strategies will you take away from the Communicate module and apply to your own teaching practices?  Which lessons were most beneficial for you??

Standard C: The online teacher plans, designs, and incorporates strategies to encourage active learning, application, interaction, participation, and collaboration in the online environment.
Standard D: The online teacher promotes student success through clear expectations, prompt responses, and regular feedback.
Standard E: The online teacher models, guides, and encourages legal, ethical, and safe behavior related to technology use.
Standard J: The online teacher interacts in a professional, effective manner with colleagues, parents, and other members of the community to support students’ success.
Standard K: The online teacher arranges media and content to help students and teachers transfer knowledge most effectively in the online environment.

I believe that the lessons on Communications Standards have helped me meet standards C and J. Identifying stakeholders, delineating their roles in the digital learning community, and formulating a communication plan has helped me to plan for and provide multiple open lines of communication that foster participation and collaboration to support students' success.

My reflections on communication laws (FERPA, TCPA) address Standard E, modeling and encouraging legal, ethical, and safe behaviors and technology uses. Digital citizenship is an essential element of online instruction. We must teach it, and we must model it.

I believe that my posts about newsletters (ongoing communication), home pages, news items, and discussion items demonstrate that I understand how to effectively structure content and media in a LMS to ensure effective and efficient delivery of content and information in the online environment (Standard K).

Finally, the last segment on feedback has helped me master Standard D, which addresses the close relationship between communication, feedback, and student success. Examples are found here, here, and here.

Two main strategies that I have taken away from this unit are developing a communication plan and utilizing discussion boards as a teaching tool. I have always maintained a parent contact log, where I've recorded parent phone calls, meetings, and emails. But identifying and delineating the roles of the stakeholders was a very helpful lesson that made me really think about the role of each person in the success of the student. It helped me see that to promote the success of ALL students, I have to have "all hands on deck" so to speak. I need to engage all stakeholders, and the only way to do that is to engage in communication with them.

Secondly, I have used discussion boards in the past as an assessment tool. But after the DB lesson, I saw that they are in fact a learning tool as well. Through interpersonal interactions and intrapersonal reflection, students really deepen their understanding of the content. I also see the importance of engaging in those discussions myself to make my digital presence known and to indirectly communicate to the students that their contributions are important to me.

These two lessons were certainly the most beneficial, and I'll be taking away these two ideas to implement in my blended classroom.