Building relationships with our students is so important and something AVID promotes. In fact, “AVID trains educators to recognize the unique circumstances that each student brings to the classroom. Teachers are encouraged to spend time throughout the year intentionally building relationships with their students” (“What If”).
Our L-term schedule has mostly online courses, and we need to intentionally engage with our students to help them feel comfortable and supported. An introduction discussion assignment is one way to get students connected with the content, each other, and their instructor. As noted in “Making Good Use of Discussion Boards,” discussions do “help create a social presence in an online course along with a sense of community. Presence and community . . . can foster emotional connections. They also improve student learning and can create greater feelings of satisfaction with the course.”
As instructors, there is an added benefit of learning information about students that will help you connect with them throughout the semester. Reading instructor Ruthie Hollis shared, “I am finding out the most interesting things about my students! As I read each post, I jot down a couple facts about each student on a little list, and then during the semester I can refer back to my ‘cheat sheet’ when I am giving feedback . . . on their assignments, such as mentioning how a certain skill/concept will be helpful in their particular career field.”
Sources
Hollis, Ruth. “Responding to Discussion Boards.” Microsoft Teams. 30 September 2021. Accessed September 2021.
“Making Good Use of Discussion Boards.” The K. Patricia Cross Academy. https://kpcrossacademy.org/making-good-use-of-online-discussion-boards/. Accessed 30 September 2021.
“What If Every Teacher Inspired and Connected with Their Students?” AVID. https://www.avid.org/teacher-effectiveness. Accessed 30 September 2021.
