NORTHCENTRAL UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Learner: Barbara Andrine Koenig

EL7004

Dr. Glen Gatin

The Online Learner

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Select 10 competencies for an online instructor that you consider to be the most critical. Present the competencies in a hierarchical order, with the most critical listed first. Discuss your rationale for selecting these competencies and support your thinking with research. In an effort to utilize technology within my work, this entire paper was written with the software, Dragon Naturally Speaking Pro, which a text to speech program I am testing out to work with some of the staff and students in Denver Public Schools. In response to the last assignment feedback, I have also limited the use of dissertations and thesis as resources. I am completing my wiki this weekend to incorporate my reflection of the learning in this class as well as putting my other classes in as well as a record of my progress through the program. It will become my online evidence or resume of my experiences as a PhD candidate. Thank you for introducing me to such an amazing tool. I hope to expand to a more complex web-design in the future. Faculty Use Only Good analysis. Well organized with good resources. I was unable to view your main article (Smith). Im curious to hear your experience with Dragon Naturally. I have it on my iPhone and it works quite well for many situations. I am also curious to get your impression of a document I have been developing that discusses the essential competencies for doctoral scholars in the elearning field. I am hoping it helps people with the identity shift from practitioner to scholar.

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https://docs.google.com/open?id=1Rc1nUO9zm9g2yq8E9-8g1GrtCPkeHkST8eL6iUDQIl82wj_34k5ve9VN_bu I look forward to viewing your wiki. Gatin July 23, 2012

Critical Competencies of the Online Instructor

Introduction Instructors and distance learning programs in higher education must truly understand the learner's needs, understand how they learn, and be willing to embrace critical competencies of the online instructor. Instructors must focus on relationship building and forming a sense of community, engaging the students not only with the course content but with their peers as well, and challenging their students to take part in a community building process (Paloff &Pratt, 2009). Competency is defined for the purpose of distance education instructors, as: involves a related set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable a person to effectively perform the activities of a given occupation or function in such a way that meets or exceeds the standards expected in a particular profession or work setting (Richey, et. al, 2001). With this definition in place and a review of research in distance and online learning instructor skills, a list of 10 important competencies of an online instructor will be examined. There is tremendous growth in studies related to online instructor competencies for distance teaching (Abdulla, 2004). The search for the reasons why the high attrition and dropout rate of online learners is encouraging such research (Paloff & Pratt, 2004). Connors (n.d.) supports the concept of relationship building as a key factor of online instructor competencies and states that good mentors are enthusiastic and takes the time to interact with their students;
Comment [G1]: Obviously this depends on the theoretical orientation you have chosen for your critical analysis. Start by narrowing down the choices between an instructivist or constructivist point of view. Which is represented in your argument? Which of these skills are less important from a constructivist stance? Instructivist?

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share personal experiences and relate to the learner in a flexible way. The findings of Connors (n.d.) research showed that mentors in a one-on-one mentoring situation main felt that it was important to be a collaborator and be a learning guide as well as a motivator and a cheerleader. The students in the study also expressed the importance of interaction with the instructor and forming trusting emotional relationships to help facilitate the learning process (Connors, n.d.). Critical Instructor Competencies The following 10 competencies are taken from Smiths (2005) article, Fifty-one competencies for online instruction, and are listed in order of importance.
Comment [G2]: This article provides a useful heuristic but look for current, peer reviewed publications.

Create an effective online syllabus one that lays out the terms of the class interaction the expected responsibilities and duties, the grading criteria, the must and don'ts of behavior, and explains the geography of the course. Before class begins, it is critical for the instructor to have a solid curricular map, student expectations and outcomes, and overall goals and objectives for the course clearly listed in the syllabus (Paloff & Pratt, 2004). If the higher learning institution prepares the course syllabus, is the instructors responsibility to go over the syllabus to ensure that the student meets the overall goals of the course (2004). Appropriate planning and evaluation must take place to ensure the syllabus matches with expected outcomes or meets the appropriate standards from the learning institutions (Abdous, 2010). Whatever the institution fails to do it is the responsibility of the instructor to fill in any gaps (2004). With attrition rates in distance education reaching upwards of 60 to 70%, having as much clarity of expectations possible is important (Levine, 2005, p.74).

Create warm and inviting atmosphere that promotes the development of a sense of community among participants.

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After the expectations for the course are clear through a well-designed syllabus, the instructor must create a sense of community within the online class. Abdous, (2010) describes the online instructor as the key instrumental factor in guiding, challenging, and widening students individual/social learning processes (pg. 64). Reaching out and forming relationships and bridging the technology divide allows the trust process to begin to form between the online instructor and the online student. It is also important to have students collaborate with one another and with the instructor to form the team-based effort in creating the course as it moves through the syllabus; this creates a sense of community and promotes student buy-in with the online course (Abdous, 2010). Forming these connections early within a class between the learner and the facilitator or amongst the learners can help solidify the learning community and form a solid foundation for which to build upon throughout the course (Levine, 2005).

Prepare students for online learning. Some students may not be appropriate for online learning, but motivation plays an important role in success (Paloff & Pratt, 2004). Because of this, it is important for the online instructor to provide students with as much information needed to the student to allow them to be successful online learners. This information can also allow them to make appropriate decisions to continue with online courses or select to return to a traditional setting (2004). Orientation activities that fit the individual class are important so the student can meet the goals and the objectives of the syllabus. It is a critical competency for the instructor to direct the student to resources both inside and outside the institution that may help them achieve the objective for the course including library resources, virtual tours of the learning management system and be

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available to interact with the student to clarify expectations and address individual needs of the student (Abdous, 2010).

Encourage students to bring real life examples into the online classroom. Making learning authentic and meaningful and drawing from the personal experiences of the learner allows the online course to form emotional bonds and build on the classroom community (Boling, et. al, 2012). These personal experiences can draw upon previous knowledge that the online student has allowing for learning building upon previous experiences and a deeper understanding of concepts that can be stored in long-term memory (Liu, 2012). These shared experiences allow the students not only to tie to their own schema, but to tie back to relationship and community building within the distance learning classroom.

Act like a learning facilitator rather than a professor. Online learning is not as simple as taking a traditional class format and delivering it through an online format (Paloff & Pratt, 2004). There are considerations for the instructor to make to experience success in the online setting. There must be a shift of power between the teacher centered approach of teaching and learning to the student centered approach within online learning (Boling et. al., 2011; Levine, 2005; Paloff & Pratt, 2004). This shift should encourage the instructor to embrace being the guide on the side, instead of the sage on the stage as stated by Paloff and Pratt (2004, p. 125).

Give prompt feedback Providing timely feedback is a critical success factor of online instructors (Abdous, 2010). This engagement often motivates and engages the students, especially when given in a

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friendly and conventional tone (2010). Specific feedback reinforces the demands, goals, and expectations of the course and allows the students to reflect and make proper adjustments for future assignments. Abdous (2010) states that it is important for the instructor to reach out to the students and get feedback from them concerning the course and appropriately and promptly address any concerns. Williams (2006) reported that providing grades and feedback were essential with online instruction as viewed by administration, faculty, and students.

Translate content for online delivery In the study conducted by Abulla (2010), he reported that the participants in the study rated the top three competencies of online instructors as: 1. Content Knowledge, 2. Facilitation Skills, and Organization Skills (p. xii). The knowledge and the ability to adjust the curricular materials to on online friendly format are important skills an online facilitator must possess. This includes having the knowledge not only how adult learners learn, but also how to reach the different learning styles of the student in an online format (Abdous, 2010; Abdulla, 2004; Paloff & Pratt, 2004; Levine, 2005).

Keep informed of the latest trends and issues; continually improve your skills and knowledge. Keeping up to date on not only the mastery of the content knowledge, but also keeping up to date with technological advances are essential for the online instructor (Abdous, 2010; Abdulla, 2004). It is critical that the online instructor is proficient with the technologies that the students are expected to interact with during the course (Abdulla, 2004; Smith, 2005). The confidence of the student in the instructor begins with the content mastery from the instructor (Abdulla, 2004).

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Use best practices to promote participation. Williams (2006) states that competencies can be learned and developed by teaching online instructors skills and best practices of online instruction. Paloff and Pratt (2004) state that appropriate staff development in online learning for instructors decreases the students anxiety and leads to better relationship building and student performance. Keeping up on pedagogical advances concerning online learning and the technologies are essential to the success of the online learner (Abdous, 2010; Abdulla, 2004; Williams, 2006).

Promote reflection.

Reflection is a self-improvement tool that is critical within higher learning (Abdous, 2010). Not only is it important to stress reflection from the point of view of the online student, but the online instruction should reflect upon their own teaching and interactions with the students to improve their own techniques (2010). It is a valuable practice to reflect on past actions, on current actions in the moment, as well as reflective actions in the future (Wilson, 2008). This allows for the reflector to learn from past experience, apply corrective action in the moment, as well as formulate predictions of future actions and interactions involving the material.

Conclusion Using the final competency evaluated in this activity brings this activity full circle. Of the 51 competencies provided by Smith (2005), the ones that stood out as essential, critical to the success of the online student involved an organization of a foundation for success for the online

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student. The number one competency needed to provide a solid foundation, rooted in organization and clear expectations for the online student, which was the organization of the course through a well-designed syllabus. The flow of competencies then focused on relationships, community formation, preparation through communication, sharing of life experiences. The last four competencies focused on the instructor only, stressing the importance of feedback to the learners, adapting curriculum to the online environment, keeping up on trends in technology, as well as promoting an environment of reflective practices. Examining these competencies seems to follow the teaching and learning cycle that is stressed through Abdous (2010) research and encourages the online educator to look at online instruction as one of planning, interaction, adjusting, reflecting, and re-teaching. This allows the courses to change from class to class to encourage continual growth through interaction within the online learning community.

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References Abdous, M. (2011). A process-oriented framework for acquiring online teaching competencies. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 23(1), 60-77. doi: 10.1007/s12528-010-9040-5 Abdulla, A. G. (2004). Distance learning students' perceptions of the online instructor roles and competencies. The Florida State University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 166 p. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/305185937?accountid=28180 Boling, E. C., Hough, M. M., Krinsky, H. H., Saleem, H. H., & Stevens, M. M. (2012). Cutting the distance in distance education: Perspectives on what promotes positive, online learning experiences. Internet & Higher Education, 15(2), 118-126. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.11.006 Connors, S. (n.d.). Assessing mentor characteristics in an online course. Retrieved from 4AssessingOnlineCharacteristics.pdf Northcentral University. Jackson, L. C., Jones, S. J., & Rodriguez, R. C. (2010). Faculty actions that result in student satisfaction in online courses. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 14(4), 78-96. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com Liu, J. (2012). Schema Theory and Its Instructional Applications on EFL. US-China Foreign Language, 10(2), 915-920. Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2003). The virtual student: a profile and guide to working with online learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Richey, R. C., Fields, D. C., & Foxon, M. (with Roberts, R. C., Spannaus, T. & Spector, J. M.) (2001). "Instructional design competencies: The standards" (3rd ed.). Syracuse, NY: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology. Smith, T. (2005). Fifty-one competencies for online instruction. Retrieved from 451ComptetenciesOnline.pdf Williams, F. D. (2006). An examination of competencies, roles, and professional development needs of community college distance educators who teach mathematics. University of Central Florida).
Comment [G3]: I was unable to find this paper. For doctoral level academic work always look for peer-reviewed published research particularly for when you are using it as the main resource for you paper. I was interested to know Smiths orienting theoretical perspective, if any.

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ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 208 p. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304942913?accountid=28180 Wilson, J. (2008). Reflecting on the future: a chronological consideration of reflective practice. Reflective Practice, 9(2), 177-184.