Strong Communication is Key to Successful Online Learning

How can teachers in an online environment ensure successful communication? There are four skills that every online teacher must have.

1. An effective online teacher must be able to facilitate interaction and act as a motivator, guide, mentor and listener to the students.
2. An effective online teacher needs to be responsive to student and parent questions by maintaining open communication.
3. An effective online teacher must know web-based technologies that provide collaborative learning for the students.
4. An effective online teacher must be knowledgeable in synchronous and asynchronous instruction.

In addition to the above skills iNACOL also looked at what communication practices and policies help to make a successful online school. The report focused on three types of communication:

1. Communication between teachers and students.
2. Communication between teachers and parents.
3. Communication between students.

It is best for online teachers to have multiple ways to share information with parents and students since not all parents have access to technology. The iNACOL article found that:

1. Online teachers need to be multifaceted, facilitating instruction through synchronous and asynchronous technology. Teachers need to also provide tutoring to students, lead discussions, and evaluate student activities.
2. Online teachers need to utilize online communication, email and phone calls as needed.

To read the entire article from iNACOL please go to http://www.inacol.org/forum
Strong Communication is Key to Successful Online Learning
Posted October 6, 2009, by Allison Powell at iNACOL