Tonight I watched the QM recording for the session entitled “Student Connection and Rapport in the Virtual Environment,” presented by Lisa Pizzuto, Program Specialist/Coordinator at Fulton County Schools. Pizzuto has been teaching online for seventeen years! Pizzuto’s objective was to share ideas for how we can personalize a generic course and develop connections with students. They explained that Fulton County Schools provides a template with the structure that can be personalized. Transactional distance theory and getting closer to the learner are important for online instructors. Pizzuto also explained that learner autonomy is desired to help students become stronger online learners. Pizzuto said that even though an instructor may not be face-to-face with a learner online, they can develop dialogue and engagement with students. They wanted to develop dialogue and interaction with the students so that they engage on a regular basis. For communication, Pizzuto mentioned that their instructors focused on the meet the teacher call, feedback on assessments before unit tests, and support calling. The meet the teacher call is done either on the phone or via video chat at the beginning of the semester. Parents, students, and teachers interact. The goal is to get to know the students and their motivation for taking the online course. The Fulton County teachers use Canvas and provide feedback in this LMS. Teachers can have up to 200 students per semester! The instructors also strive to provide weekly support to learners, at least. Pizzuto also explained how the instructor coordinates weekly support for some students. During the questions and discussion section, Pizzuto shared that teachers leave feedback often using templates for targeted support and audio, video, and text. The challenges for the students Pizzuto and colleagues support is that courses are self-paced. Attendance is taken by checking their progression through the course and their pace. Students who are not progressing are supported through a phone call at first. After that, if they are still unresponsive and not progressing, their parents are contacted. Pizzuto mentioned that their content was adapted from another university. Pizzuto concluded that “online learning does not mean that there has to be a distance between the teacher and the student.”
