TCC 2002 Presentation: Dereshiwsky

2002 Paper Presentations

GO CYBERTEAM: TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE ONLINE INSTRUCTIONAL COACHING

Mary I. Dereshiwsky
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA <LDRSPETSCherry@aol.com>

INTRODUCTION

The technologically mediated classroom has been marked by many advances and many opportunities. During the past several years in particular, we have learned a great deal regarding how to create meaningful online learning experiences for our students.

Effective online teachers are often characterized as being a "guide on the side, rather than a sage on the stage." This suggests effective instructional coaching so as to enhance collaborative peer-to-peer as well as instructor-to-student learning.

The purpose of this paper is to frame the effective online educator as an instructional coach. Tips for enhancing student engagement and learning via the coaching model will be structured below under the letters of the TEAM acronym.

"T" IS FOR TRAINING

Advance preparation is key to a successful online instructional experience. As such, teacher-coaches should plan to do a bit of advance scouting on behalf of their students with respect to the following areas:

Have the students given some thought to their individual learning styles and how Web-based instruction requires some different learning strategies than the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom? There are a number of excellent self-assessment instruments that exist for this purpose. Western Governors University (WGU) has a multiple-choice self-survey entitled "Self-Assessment for Distance Education (http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/self_assessment.asp)." Students can click on radio buttons to select their answers. When they are finished taking the survey, the following Web page interprets their answers for them with respect to the unique demands of the online classroom and some strategies they may need to practice in order to be maximally succeessful. I have a hyperlink to the WGU self-assessment survey in my syllabus for my graduate-level Introduction to Research course. I require students to take this self-test during the first week of class as an orientation activity.
Have the technological skill requirements of the class been spelled out for students in advance? It is helpful to list entry-level hardware and software prerequisites as part of the course description in the catalog, as well as in the syllabus.
Is there dependable computer help available via telephone or other easily accessible means? Students should be provided with the locations of computing labs, both on the main and branch campuses, as well as the telephone number and hours of the help desk. As Schweitzer (1999) has stated, the instructor's primary role is not to play help desk nor to debug techno-glitches that students may face. Instead, it is to guide the students through the mastery of the specific content of the course. At the same time, an effective instructional coach will point students towards such established and expert support facilities via provision of contact information.
Has the course site been carefully prepared in advance to be ready for students to access reliably on opening day? Any external embedded hyperlinks contained in the instructional Web pages should be rechecked to see if any such links may have gone dead or changed addresses. General orientation-type announcements should be posted in the asynchronous classroom area so that students can read them as they arrive into the online learning space at the start of the semester. If possible, a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document might be e-mailed to students prior to the start of the course. The function of such an e-mailed FAQ is two-fold: 1) to anticipate any questions that new registrants might have; and 2) to serve as a gentle reminder that online school is about to be in session, akin to the first orientation startup meeting day of class (Dereshiwsky, 2000).
Has the instructor-coach been particularly available and accessible right before the start of the course? Some students may be a bit late registering and may need some related guidance. Others may want to check in a bit early and begin to download their course materials. Instructors should plan to be particularly accessible via telephone and e-mail with extended hours of responding to pre-startup students' questions and concerns.

"E" IS FOR EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION

Successful facilitation of communication and online community building are the focus of the instructional coach once the course has begun and students have become oriented in a general way as to its expectations. Following are some activities that are particularly helpful in communications and community-building type coaching:

A personal welcome on arrival. Draves (2002) has emphasized the lasting positive first impression that students receive when their instructor warmly and promptly welcomes them to the online course. This can be done in response to the student's initial e-mail message to his/her instructor, or to a similar "this is me" posting in the asynchronous bulletin board area. Time and again, students comment that they are delightfully surprised at this individual welcome and how much they appreciate it. This sets the tone of comfortable interaction with a friendly and accessible instructor-coach. It also goes a long way in dispelling the old myth that online instruction is cold and impersonal.
A place for students to ask questions and receive answers. Promptness is equally important in responding to student questions about the course. Particularly during the first week or two, students will have many questions about how the online course works, particularly if they have never taken a Web course before. While responding to individual e-mailed questions is one way to do this, the instructor may soon face an overflowing e-mail in-box: one filled with thirty students asking the same question (Dereshiwsky, 2001). A more efficient way to share and answer questions in a spirit of true community building is to establish a separate folder in the asynchronous course bulletin board area entitled "Questions and Answers." This way, one student may ask a question that is relevant to many more; but you as the instructor only have to answer it once and all students will see that answer. Furthermore, the instructor will often be pleasantly surprised to discover that another student has beaten him/her to it and answered a classmate's posted question. This encourages true collaborative learning and peer-to-peer coaching.
Visual user-friendliness in course learning materials. Because the instructor-coach will not have the customary visual cues to indicate student confusion, he/she will have to go the extra mile to make the related course learning materials user-friendly. Draves (2002) has shared the importance of 'visually chunking' the learning material that is in the form of Web pages, e-mailed or posted messages. This means setting off short, easy-to-read paragraphs, outlines or lists. These are much easier to read and less fatiguing than running several ideas together in long paragraphs. Tables, graphs and cartoons can also be included to further enhance the visual nature of the learning process.
The importance of effective study skills. Related to the preceding point, a good instructor-coach will be aware of the differential demands of effective online learning. Lacking the implicit encouragement of the traditional group face-to-face classroom meetings, students will need to be even more resourceful and take more initiative in structuring their learning. It may be necessary to alert first-time online students in particular that skimming an instructional Web page 'once over lightly' is not equivalent to 'truly studying' that material (Dereshiwsky, 2000) There are many excellent materials available on enhancing study skills (Connick, et al., 1999) which the instructor-coach may wish to share with his/her online students. In addition, the instructor-coach will want to encourage students to share any questions they may have on the learning material with him/her promptly, trustingly and in a spirit of positive partnership. A good coach will share empathically that unresolved questions or concerns may exacerbate any initial feelings of isolation due to the online environment. This interaction, in turn, tends to fester and preclude successful and enjoyable learning from occurring. Prompt communication of problems and working in trust and partnership with one's instructor-coach on resolution of any such problems is the key to maximally beneficial learning.
Sharing the rules of the road. Positive online community depends on courteous and considerate communications among learners and between learners and instructor-coach. As such, rules of "netiquette" have been developed and disseminated. An effective instructor-coach may need to privately prompt new online students that typing in all capital letters is considered shouting by many sources and thus discourteous. Furthermore, he/she will point out to students that text in all capitals tends to be harder to read. The instructor-coach may need to help students find alternatives to such actions: for example, if the student was typing in all caps because he/she did not know how to adjust the font size on his/her screen. Finally, in this regard, a good instructor-coach will model the special care that must be taken when communicating via the written word only, so that the message is not misunderstood. This may mean suggesting to students that they re-read and edit their potential post or e-mail message with an cautious eye to what the words might say to an outside party reading them without visual or other cues.It may also mean judicious and sparing use of humor, attempts at even good-natured teasing of classmates, and the like. It may also mean stepping into the middle of an increasingly heated disagreement to gently and pleasantly remind students to focus on issues being debated and not personally attacking anyone with whom they may disagree on those particular issues.

"A" IS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY OF LEARNERS

A good coach realizes that achievement cannot be imposed from without, but rather, it must come from within. As such, the effective online instructor will empower his/her students towards successful learning. Activities such as the following may be helpful in this regard:

Creating group learning experiences. The literature of adult learning is replete with the benefits of peer-to-peer coaching and instruction. This is coupled with the popular maxim of the online instructor as "guide on the side, rather than sage on the stage." Students can share their perspectives of the content material as well as create those prized 'a-ha' teaching moments by sharing their own perspectives with their peers. Effective groups can be established regardless of geographic proximity--or lack thereof--thereby also helping to dispel the earlier stereotype of Web-based learning as 'just a correspondence school' for individual, isolated learners.
Suggesting some effective ground rules for group interaction to students. In order for the peer learning experience to be maximally successful, instructors cannot simply place students into groups and turn them loose on the assignments. Again keeping in mind the differential nature and requirements of the online classroom, the instructor-coach can suggest that newly formed groups develop contracts as their first official group activity. Such a contract or code of conduct might include, but not necessarily be limited to, such issues as the following:

A good group code of conduct/contract will include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following:

Working through such issues as the preceding also works to get the newly formed group up and running and is a valuable communications dry run prior to working on actual assignments as a team.

Set periodic due dates throughout the duration of the course. Greater flexibility and self-pacing are admittedly the hallmarks of online instruction. At the same time, too much freedom can be a bit of a bad thing, particularly for first-time online students. It may be all too tempting to procrastinate with regard to online course expectations, particularly if these students are also taking one or more traditional live face-to-face courses at the same time. Before they know it, they may find themselves nearing the end of the term and with several months' work pending or past due. The good instructor-coach will attempt to anticipate and block this particular offensive by creating staggered due dates for assignments, papers and other course artifacts throughout the term. These should be clearly posted in the syllabus and students should be referred to them, particularly at the beginning of the semester. Some initially posted or e-mailed reminders regarding pending due dates might also be helpful. Another positive side effect of such staggered due dates is that students will be receiving continual and periodic instructor feedback on how they are doing in the course.
Be sure to follow up with 'seemingly silent students.' Again lacking the traditional visual cues of the empty classroom seat, the online instructor-coach must be particularly alert to such cues as a student who has not yet checked in by e-mail message or post after the first week of class; or one who has not turned in the first assignment; or has not participated in the first free-for-all posted group discussion item. It is far better to err on the side of caution in this case and initiate individual e-mailed contacts promptly with such seemingly silent students. Such a message might contain the instructor's sincere concern due to his/her observation of whatever individual activity the student has missed. The instructor might suggest a follow-up telephone call or office visit if appropriate to invite the student to share any problems he/she may be experiencing and to offer the instructor an opportunity to be of help.

"M" IS FOR MOTIVATING LEARNERS

With this section, we come to the heart and soul of the responsibilities of an effective coach. Facilitating and empowering students to draw upon their talents and achieve their goals is what motivation is all about. I have found the following activities to be helpful in the online classroom environment:

Creating the personal touch immediately upon the start of the course. According to Draves (2002), and as discussed earlier, it is vitally important to personally welcome each student to the course immediately upon his or her check-in. This creates a powerful first impression that helps to debunk the belief of online teaching and learning as being cold and impersonal. To this end it is important for online instructor-coaches to be especially vigilant about responding to e-mail messages, posts, calls and office visits promptly, particularly during the all-important start-up phase of the course. In addition, it can be helpful to set up a "Let's Break the Ice" folder in the asynchronous posting area for students to introduce themselves and share a little bit about their personal and professional interests. I get things rolling with my own post and uploaded photo. This further helps to 'humanize' me to the students and gets the interaction going.
Keep the human touch going throughout the semester. I do this in two ways. First, I have a folder in my asynchronous bulletin board posting area entitled "More Words to Lead By." Three times a week, I post a cluster of positive-thinking stories, poems and/or quotations centered around a common theme in this folder. I also try to think of a catchy title for each themed posting. For example, "It's About Time" refers to a set of postings on time management. Students often share with me how much they enjoy finding and reading these items. Some of them have even told me that they save them to share with friends, family, students and co-workers. A second type of periodic posting I do is titled "Taking the Pulse." A week or so after the semester has started, I gently do a reality check with students via this 'pulse' post. Among other things, I assure them that if they are still feeling a bit overwhelmed with their online start-up tasks, that this is a very normal feeling especially at this stage. I also recall my own initial start-up jitters when I first started to use computers. This has been a significant de-stressor for students; in addition, it reinforces to them that it's not only OK, but highly desirable, to share any questions or concerns they may have with me in a spirit of trust and confidence.
Create fun learning activities. Among my assignments, I have two crossword puzzles that are intended to give students some fun practice in their understanding of research terminology. My qualitative research doctoral students are asked to conduct a Web-based scavenger hunt to locate and discuss sites that summarize violations of ethical principles in the treatment of human research subjects. In my Web-based dissertation seminar, we have a weekly discussion topic called "Let's Chat About It" that deals with the more practical, human-relations type issues in the dissertation process such as 'care and feeding of one's committee members.' Activities such as these reinforce the notion that learning is intended to be an enriching and enjoyable experience.
Remain visible and accessible throughout the semester. Students find it motivating and reassuring to know that you are 'being with them' and checking into the posting area or your incoming e-mail. This also serves to remind them of the importance of periodically and systematically engaging in their course.

CONCLUDING COMMENTS

Most of us have memories of that one special teacher who truly connected with us and left a lasting positive impression. Likewise, if you're an online educator yourself as I am, you hope to be that one special teacher for your students. By being an effective, empathic role model and coach to your students, you can help ensure a maximally beneficial and minimally stressful online learning experience for them: one in which they will feel empowered with regard to structuring their own learning experience. In doing so, you will be creating the ultimate winning teaching-learning team.

REFERENCES

Connick, G. P. (Ed.). (1999). The distance learner's guide. Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WICHE). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Dereshiwsky, M. I. (2001, January). ‚"A" is for Assessment: Identifying Online Assessment Practices and Perceptions. Published in Education at a Distance, official refereed journal of the U.S. Distance Learning Association.

Dereshiwsky, M. I. (2000, April). The ten commandments of effective cyberinstruction. Paper presented at the third annual Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference, Hilo, HI.

Dereshiwsky, M. I. (1999, April). Believe it‚ or not? Some student misperceptions regarding online learning and how to overcome them. Paper presented at the second annual Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference, Hilo, HI.

Draves, W.A. (2002). Teaching online. (2nd ed.). River Falls, WI: Learning Resources Network.

Schweizer, H. (1999). Designing and teaching an online course: Spinning your web classroom. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

TCC Online Conferences
Kapi`olani Community College
University of Hawai`i
Honolulu, HI




Welcome About 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007	2002 Paper Presentations GO CYBERTEAM: TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE ONLINE INSTRUCTIONAL COACHING Mary I. Dereshiwsky Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA <LDRSPETSCherry@aol.com> INTRODUCTION The technologically mediated classroom has been marked by many advances and many opportunities. During the past several years in particular, we have learned a great deal regarding how to create meaningful online learning experiences for our students. Effective online teachers are often characterized as being a "guide on the side, rather than a sage on the stage." This suggests effective instructional coaching so as to enhance collaborative peer-to-peer as well as instructor-to-student learning. The purpose of this paper is to frame the effective online educator as an instructional coach. Tips for enhancing student engagement and learning via the coaching model will be structured below under the letters of the TEAM acronym. "T" IS FOR TRAINING Advance preparation is key to a successful online instructional experience. As such, teacher-coaches should plan to do a bit of advance scouting on behalf of their students with respect to the following areas: Have the students given some thought to their individual learning styles and how Web-based instruction requires some different learning strategies than the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom? There are a number of excellent self-assessment instruments that exist for this purpose. Western Governors University (WGU) has a multiple-choice self-survey entitled "Self-Assessment for Distance Education (http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/self_assessment.asp)." Students can click on radio buttons to select their answers. When they are finished taking the survey, the following Web page interprets their answers for them with respect to the unique demands of the online classroom and some strategies they may need to practice in order to be maximally succeessful. I have a hyperlink to the WGU self-assessment survey in my syllabus for my graduate-level Introduction to Research course. I require students to take this self-test during the first week of class as an orientation activity. Have the technological skill requirements of the class been spelled out for students in advance? It is helpful to list entry-level hardware and software prerequisites as part of the course description in the catalog, as well as in the syllabus. Is there dependable computer help available via telephone or other easily accessible means? Students should be provided with the locations of computing labs, both on the main and branch campuses, as well as the telephone number and hours of the help desk. As Schweitzer (1999) has stated, the instructor's primary role is not to play help desk nor to debug techno-glitches that students may face. Instead, it is to guide the students through the mastery of the specific content of the course. At the same time, an effective instructional coach will point students towards such established and expert support facilities via provision of contact information. Has the course site been carefully prepared in advance to be ready for students to access reliably on opening day? Any external embedded hyperlinks contained in the instructional Web pages should be rechecked to see if any such links may have gone dead or changed addresses. General orientation-type announcements should be posted in the asynchronous classroom area so that students can read them as they arrive into the online learning space at the start of the semester. If possible, a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document might be e-mailed to students prior to the start of the course. The function of such an e-mailed FAQ is two-fold: 1) to anticipate any questions that new registrants might have; and 2) to serve as a gentle reminder that online school is about to be in session, akin to the first orientation startup meeting day of class (Dereshiwsky, 2000). Has the instructor-coach been particularly available and accessible right before the start of the course? Some students may be a bit late registering and may need some related guidance. Others may want to check in a bit early and begin to download their course materials. Instructors should plan to be particularly accessible via telephone and e-mail with extended hours of responding to pre-startup students' questions and concerns. "E" IS FOR EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION Successful facilitation of communication and online community building are the focus of the instructional coach once the course has begun and students have become oriented in a general way as to its expectations. Following are some activities that are particularly helpful in communications and community-building type coaching: A personal welcome on arrival. Draves (2002) has emphasized the lasting positive first impression that students receive when their instructor warmly and promptly welcomes them to the online course. This can be done in response to the student's initial e-mail message to his/her instructor, or to a similar "this is me" posting in the asynchronous bulletin board area. Time and again, students comment that they are delightfully surprised at this individual welcome and how much they appreciate it. This sets the tone of comfortable interaction with a friendly and accessible instructor-coach. It also goes a long way in dispelling the old myth that online instruction is cold and impersonal. A place for students to ask questions and receive answers. Promptness is equally important in responding to student questions about the course. Particularly during the first week or two, students will have many questions about how the online course works, particularly if they have never taken a Web course before. While responding to individual e-mailed questions is one way to do this, the instructor may soon face an overflowing e-mail in-box: one filled with thirty students asking the same question (Dereshiwsky, 2001). A more efficient way to share and answer questions in a spirit of true community building is to establish a separate folder in the asynchronous course bulletin board area entitled "Questions and Answers." This way, one student may ask a question that is relevant to many more; but you as the instructor only have to answer it once and all students will see that answer. Furthermore, the instructor will often be pleasantly surprised to discover that another student has beaten him/her to it and answered a classmate's posted question. This encourages true collaborative learning and peer-to-peer coaching. Visual user-friendliness in course learning materials. Because the instructor-coach will not have the customary visual cues to indicate student confusion, he/she will have to go the extra mile to make the related course learning materials user-friendly. Draves (2002) has shared the importance of 'visually chunking' the learning material that is in the form of Web pages, e-mailed or posted messages. This means setting off short, easy-to-read paragraphs, outlines or lists. These are much easier to read and less fatiguing than running several ideas together in long paragraphs. Tables, graphs and cartoons can also be included to further enhance the visual nature of the learning process. The importance of effective study skills. Related to the preceding point, a good instructor-coach will be aware of the differential demands of effective online learning. Lacking the implicit encouragement of the traditional group face-to-face classroom meetings, students will need to be even more resourceful and take more initiative in structuring their learning. It may be necessary to alert first-time online students in particular that skimming an instructional Web page 'once over lightly' is not equivalent to 'truly studying' that material (Dereshiwsky, 2000) There are many excellent materials available on enhancing study skills (Connick, et al., 1999) which the instructor-coach may wish to share with his/her online students. In addition, the instructor-coach will want to encourage students to share any questions they may have on the learning material with him/her promptly, trustingly and in a spirit of positive partnership. A good coach will share empathically that unresolved questions or concerns may exacerbate any initial feelings of isolation due to the online environment. This interaction, in turn, tends to fester and preclude successful and enjoyable learning from occurring. Prompt communication of problems and working in trust and partnership with one's instructor-coach on resolution of any such problems is the key to maximally beneficial learning. Sharing the rules of the road. Positive online community depends on courteous and considerate communications among learners and between learners and instructor-coach. As such, rules of "netiquette" have been developed and disseminated. An effective instructor-coach may need to privately prompt new online students that typing in all capital letters is considered shouting by many sources and thus discourteous. Furthermore, he/she will point out to students that text in all capitals tends to be harder to read. The instructor-coach may need to help students find alternatives to such actions: for example, if the student was typing in all caps because he/she did not know how to adjust the font size on his/her screen. Finally, in this regard, a good instructor-coach will model the special care that must be taken when communicating via the written word only, so that the message is not misunderstood. This may mean suggesting to students that they re-read and edit their potential post or e-mail message with an cautious eye to what the words might say to an outside party reading them without visual or other cues.It may also mean judicious and sparing use of humor, attempts at even good-natured teasing of classmates, and the like. It may also mean stepping into the middle of an increasingly heated disagreement to gently and pleasantly remind students to focus on issues being debated and not personally attacking anyone with whom they may disagree on those particular issues. "A" IS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY OF LEARNERS A good coach realizes that achievement cannot be imposed from without, but rather, it must come from within. As such, the effective online instructor will empower his/her students towards successful learning. Activities such as the following may be helpful in this regard: Creating group learning experiences. The literature of adult learning is replete with the benefits of peer-to-peer coaching and instruction. This is coupled with the popular maxim of the online instructor as "guide on the side, rather than sage on the stage." Students can share their perspectives of the content material as well as create those prized 'a-ha' teaching moments by sharing their own perspectives with their peers. Effective groups can be established regardless of geographic proximity--or lack thereof--thereby also helping to dispel the earlier stereotype of Web-based learning as 'just a correspondence school' for individual, isolated learners. Suggesting some effective ground rules for group interaction to students. In order for the peer learning experience to be maximally successful, instructors cannot simply place students into groups and turn them loose on the assignments. Again keeping in mind the differential nature and requirements of the online classroom, the instructor-coach can suggest that newly formed groups develop contracts as their first official group activity. Such a contract or code of conduct might include, but not necessarily be limited to, such issues as the following: A good group code of conduct/contract will include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following: How will the individual members of the group communicate? Will they post notes and updates for one another in designated group folders created by their instructor and designed to be used as work spaces and private group bulletin board posting areas? Will they communicate via a mass email mailing list or group listserv, where anything that one group member sends is received by all? Will they meet in person? Any/all of the preceding? How often will each group member be expected to check for any updates from his/her teammates? Will there be a permanent group leader? or will this task be rotated in some way? Who will be assigned to post the group's assignment solution in the designated posting area as per the due date policy in the course syllabus? Will one person be the poster/recorder, or will the group members take turns posting individual assignments? What will be the group's policy, if any, on absences and covering for one another if need be? What policy will group members have in place in case of resolving any intra-group conflict that may arise (for example, if a group member neglects to carry out his/her delegated duties to post the assignment on time, or if a group member is not receiving or responding to group updates as often as expected in Point (2) above?) Think of the instructor as a 'higher court of appeals,' if you will...he/she will always be happy to moderate and intervene if need be, BUT the group members will FIRST be expected to document for their instructor that they have carried through your initial 'conflict resolution plans' as per their contract, and to update their on the outcome(s) of their own attempt(s) to resolve any such emergent intra-group conflict. Working through such issues as the preceding also works to get the newly formed group up and running and is a valuable communications dry run prior to working on actual assignments as a team. Set periodic due dates throughout the duration of the course. Greater flexibility and self-pacing are admittedly the hallmarks of online instruction. At the same time, too much freedom can be a bit of a bad thing, particularly for first-time online students. It may be all too tempting to procrastinate with regard to online course expectations, particularly if these students are also taking one or more traditional live face-to-face courses at the same time. Before they know it, they may find themselves nearing the end of the term and with several months' work pending or past due. The good instructor-coach will attempt to anticipate and block this particular offensive by creating staggered due dates for assignments, papers and other course artifacts throughout the term. These should be clearly posted in the syllabus and students should be referred to them, particularly at the beginning of the semester. Some initially posted or e-mailed reminders regarding pending due dates might also be helpful. Another positive side effect of such staggered due dates is that students will be receiving continual and periodic instructor feedback on how they are doing in the course. Be sure to follow up with 'seemingly silent students.' Again lacking the traditional visual cues of the empty classroom seat, the online instructor-coach must be particularly alert to such cues as a student who has not yet checked in by e-mail message or post after the first week of class; or one who has not turned in the first assignment; or has not participated in the first free-for-all posted group discussion item. It is far better to err on the side of caution in this case and initiate individual e-mailed contacts promptly with such seemingly silent students. Such a message might contain the instructor's sincere concern due to his/her observation of whatever individual activity the student has missed. The instructor might suggest a follow-up telephone call or office visit if appropriate to invite the student to share any problems he/she may be experiencing and to offer the instructor an opportunity to be of help. "M" IS FOR MOTIVATING LEARNERS With this section, we come to the heart and soul of the responsibilities of an effective coach. Facilitating and empowering students to draw upon their talents and achieve their goals is what motivation is all about. I have found the following activities to be helpful in the online classroom environment: Creating the personal touch immediately upon the start of the course. According to Draves (2002), and as discussed earlier, it is vitally important to personally welcome each student to the course immediately upon his or her check-in. This creates a powerful first impression that helps to debunk the belief of online teaching and learning as being cold and impersonal. To this end it is important for online instructor-coaches to be especially vigilant about responding to e-mail messages, posts, calls and office visits promptly, particularly during the all-important start-up phase of the course. In addition, it can be helpful to set up a "Let's Break the Ice" folder in the asynchronous posting area for students to introduce themselves and share a little bit about their personal and professional interests. I get things rolling with my own post and uploaded photo. This further helps to 'humanize' me to the students and gets the interaction going. Keep the human touch going throughout the semester. I do this in two ways. First, I have a folder in my asynchronous bulletin board posting area entitled "More Words to Lead By." Three times a week, I post a cluster of positive-thinking stories, poems and/or quotations centered around a common theme in this folder. I also try to think of a catchy title for each themed posting. For example, "It's About Time" refers to a set of postings on time management. Students often share with me how much they enjoy finding and reading these items. Some of them have even told me that they save them to share with friends, family, students and co-workers. A second type of periodic posting I do is titled "Taking the Pulse." A week or so after the semester has started, I gently do a reality check with students via this 'pulse' post. Among other things, I assure them that if they are still feeling a bit overwhelmed with their online start-up tasks, that this is a very normal feeling especially at this stage. I also recall my own initial start-up jitters when I first started to use computers. This has been a significant de-stressor for students; in addition, it reinforces to them that it's not only OK, but highly desirable, to share any questions or concerns they may have with me in a spirit of trust and confidence. Create fun learning activities. Among my assignments, I have two crossword puzzles that are intended to give students some fun practice in their understanding of research terminology. My qualitative research doctoral students are asked to conduct a Web-based scavenger hunt to locate and discuss sites that summarize violations of ethical principles in the treatment of human research subjects. In my Web-based dissertation seminar, we have a weekly discussion topic called "Let's Chat About It" that deals with the more practical, human-relations type issues in the dissertation process such as 'care and feeding of one's committee members.' Activities such as these reinforce the notion that learning is intended to be an enriching and enjoyable experience. Remain visible and accessible throughout the semester. Students find it motivating and reassuring to know that you are 'being with them' and checking into the posting area or your incoming e-mail. This also serves to remind them of the importance of periodically and systematically engaging in their course. CONCLUDING COMMENTS Most of us have memories of that one special teacher who truly connected with us and left a lasting positive impression. Likewise, if you're an online educator yourself as I am, you hope to be that one special teacher for your students. By being an effective, empathic role model and coach to your students, you can help ensure a maximally beneficial and minimally stressful online learning experience for them: one in which they will feel empowered with regard to structuring their own learning experience. In doing so, you will be creating the ultimate winning teaching-learning team. REFERENCES Connick, G. P. (Ed.). (1999). The distance learner's guide. Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WICHE). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Dereshiwsky, M. I. (2001, January). ‚"A" is for Assessment: Identifying Online Assessment Practices and Perceptions. Published in Education at a Distance, official refereed journal of the U.S. Distance Learning Association. Dereshiwsky, M. I. (2000, April). The ten commandments of effective cyberinstruction. Paper presented at the third annual Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference, Hilo, HI. Dereshiwsky, M. I. (1999, April). Believe it‚ or not? Some student misperceptions regarding online learning and how to overcome them. Paper presented at the second annual Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference, Hilo, HI. Draves, W.A. (2002). Teaching online. (2nd ed.). River Falls, WI: Learning Resources Network. Schweizer, H. (1999). Designing and teaching an online course: Spinning your web classroom. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. TCC Online Conferences Kapi`olani Community College University of Hawai`i Honolulu, HI