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Tag: Online Education

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What Are the Fastest Growing Online Education Programs in 2021?

Building Online Education Programs on a laptop

2020 saw a large surge in online learning and distance learning for obvious reasons. But these trends are not just for elementary and middle schools in the midst of a pandemic, in fact, online education has been growing for degree-seeking programs in Universities for years.

And all trends, stats, and predictions seem to point to the continuation of the growth of online education programs in universities and higher education.

Why Will Online Education Programs Continue to Thrive?

Flexibility when it comes to scheduling and convenience are two of the most important factors for many young adults going to Universities, or older adults going back to school for a field change. And because 2020 and the pandemic showed America that online education, especially at higher levels, can work quite well, we expect more and more students to migrate to distance learning over traditional, in-person classes.

However, if this trend continues, then more universities will need to offer more online education programs and classes. As the number of enrollees goes up, higher education institutions will also need to expand their degree-seeking online program offerings as a strategic response to the public’s demand.

Why Are Students Choosing Online Education Programs?

  • It may be the best fit for their work and life responsibilities
  • It could be their preferred way of learning
  • There may not be their program offered near them

Which Online Education Programs & Certifications Are Quickly Growing?

Physician Assistant & Nurse Practitioner

In addition to completing graduate-level courses, every state requires physician assistants and nurse practitioners to be licensed. And though this is a lengthier process, it can pay off largely, as the average salary is over $100,000 per year and the expected growth rate for the area continues steadily over 35%.

Online Degree Options: Master’s in Physician Assistance or MSN-NP/DNP Programs

Software Developers

Software is constantly changing, which means software developers are valued for both their creativity and their technical know-how. And when you consider a bachelor’s in computer science is all that’s needed for entry-level positions, there is significant job security in that degree. There is also an expected 30%+ growth rate for the next 10 years. Plus, the average salary is often over $100,000 per year. This will surely be an area many future distance learners look into.

Online Degree Options: Bachelor’s in Computer Science or Master’s in Computer Science

Information Security Analysts

Cyber-attacks and data security are becoming top concerns in our growing digital age, which means information security analysts will most likely be needed even more in the future than they already are now. And though online degrees are readily available in the field of information systems and cybersecurity, with projected growth rates nearing 30% and salaries over $95,000, more programs, and programs with specialties, are sure to be needed.

Online Degree Options: Information Systems and Cyber Security

Contact Instructional Connections to Learn More About Online Education Courses & How to Make Your Distance Learning a Success with Virtual Academic Coaches

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Instructional Connections’ Online Education Model

Instructional Connections’ Online Education Model

Instructional Connections’ online education model stems from research and experience. Our process follows the successful steps we have created over years of work by listening to the needs of our university partners and growing in our data-driven tactics.

Step 1: Understanding Your Distance Learning Needs

First, we work to fully and deeply understand what each college or university needs relative to instructional support. We strive to understand all missions that each school desires through in-depth meetings before we get started.

A strong foundation is the start of every lasting partnership.

Step 2: Recruiting Your Virtual TAs

Second, we recruit, screen, pre-qualify and present Academic Coach candidates (AKA Virtual Teaching Assistants or Virtual TAs) to our university and college clients.

Each candidate has been thoroughly vetted and is available in our extensive pool for approval by our university partners.

Step 3: Assigning Your Virtual Teaching Assistants

Next, we assign your Academic Coaches and other necessary support staff to the correct online courses and programs. We understand and listen to each university, college, and course-specific request to create the most successful distance learning environment.

We understand the hurdles and benefits that online programs and distance learning have and that is why we work hard to help each client manage their distance learning courses in whatever way they want for optimal student success.

Step 4: Personalized Training for Each Virtual TA

We fully train each candidate per your learning management systems in order to orient your Virtual TA to courses, your distance learning programs, and your expectations. Additionally, we are happy to work closely with faculty on the best practices and uses of their Virtual Teaching Assistants.

We want our partners to understand our model, and for us to understand each course objective and preferred outcome.

Step 5: Organization & Accountability for High Quality Service

We independently contract, manage, and pay the Virtual TAs, handling all organization of staffing provided in order to fulfill the service needs on behalf of you, our university partners. This eliminates you from needing additional human resources and payroll programming or training hours.

We do this to ensure accountability by having in-house supportive leadership staff who work directly with both your administration and faculty and your Virtual TAs. By meeting with faculty, we can meet and exceed expectations, rubric, and course goals.

We strive to surpass expectations through both our services and our Virtual Teaching Assistants’ service.

Our Online Education Model Is Built on Communication, Making Sure You Are in Control of Your Distance Learning

Each faculty member of record that teaches an online course is able to provide clear expectations to their approved and assigned Academic Coach, and they can update these needs throughout the course. In fact, most faculty members continually think of new and better methods to help educate students through distance learning.

This means that every area of support from an Academic Coach can be decided by the faculty, so you stay in complete control. The needs in different courses may vary depending on the faculty’s needs, expectations, class size, assignments, level, and more.

Our Online Education Model offers a level of flexibility that allows for complete control of online program management to still be held by your faculty.

We Are Committed to Quality & Accreditation

Programmatic and institutional accreditation, program guidelines, and policies are sacrosanct. Instructional Connections’ quality assurance program cares about fully meeting and matching our partners’ needs with our services. Our commitment is consistent with that of our university partners’ in providing the highest levels of education to each and every student.

At the end of every online or distance learning course, we solicit feedback regarding the Academic Coaches’ work to improve the course experience. And in the rare event that a problem arises with an Academic Coach, Instructional Connections immediately investigates and takes action. We do all things in accordance with faculty and university concerns.

Contact Instructional Connections today for more information on our Virtual Teaching Assistants and services!
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Research

The effect of online academic coaches on supporting graduate students’ performance in intensive online learning environments: a three-course comparison

European journal of training and development graphic

Dr. Suyoung Park and her colleague Dr. Petra Robinson at Louisiana State University researched the performance levels of graduate students and the support that graduate students receive when they interact with academic coaches in intensive online courses.  They looked at students in three different online courses. Among their findings was the overarching ethos that academic coaches provide an effective framework for student support.

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EJTD-10-2020-0144/full/html?skipTracking=true#loginreload

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Instructional Connections’ Online Academic Coaches [Duties & Qualifications]

Instructional Connections’ Online Academic Coach

Our online academic coaching model gives your faculty more time to focus on student success! But what are their duties and qualifications? These are some of the most common questions we receive from our distance learning and online course clients.

Through our innovative model, we are able to provide the highest flexibility for your faculty, as our online academic coaches perform varied duties depending on your distance course needs.

What is an Online Academic Coach?

An online academic coach is meant to aid the faculty member of record, or professor, that is teaching an online course. This gives your faculty the time to focus on student success, engagement, and course delivery.

Additional responsibilities include any course issues as defined by your faculty or any needs that relate to online and distance learning. Plus, our online academic coaches are flexible – so your faculty member simply needs to provide us with instructions on their needs and expectations for the course, and our online academic coaches deliver.

Our Online Academic Coach Duties

Though they may perform many duties, some of the most common responsibilities are:

  • Grading assignments & essays
  • Replying to discussion threads
  • Handling course announcements
  • Managing day-to-day issues
  • Answering emails & messages
  • Facilitating course discussions
  • And more!

Graded materials with substantial feedback are completed and returned within 72 hours of the due date – which means no more waiting for grades and no rushed grading for your faculty or missed deadlines for online submissions of graded assignments.

All asynchronous discussion threads are monitored per the direction of your faculty, facilitating conversations, answering questions, and helping the students discuss deeper into the subject matter. For many online courses that are largely writing and discussion-based, this service from our online academic coaches is invaluable.

Our online academic coaches will also answer and respond to all inquiries, emails, messages, and calls within 24 hours, seven days a week. Even if the answer is to let the student know that they will have to perform their own additional research or consult with the faculty of record, no correspondence will be left unattended or unanswered for over 24 hours, even on weekends.

Our online academic coaches actively participate in weekly faculty and conference calls so that they may review the faculty’s expectations, grading guidelines and rubrics, failing or at-risk students, and discuss any issues in the class, scheduling, or upcoming needs and assignments.

Finally, our online academic coaches maintain compliance with all university policies and regulations, including FERPA.

Instructional Connections is the first of its kind to implement this online academic coaching model, which drives scale and helps assure high completion rates and student retention. The more tasks your faculty of record can delegate to our online academic coach, the more time they will have available for course success and student learning!

Instructional Connections and our model was carefully evaluated by regional accreditors during partner University site visits and was consistently found to be both innovative and effective!

Our Online Academic Coach Qualifications

Each IC academic coach is a highly qualified, experienced professional in the appropriate academic discipline. Each of our online academic coaches has earned at least a Master’s or Doctoral degree from an accredited university. Plus, on average, Instructional Connections’ academic coaches have 14 years of experience in their field!

Therefore, each online academic coach possesses the educational credentials and real-life experience to become an immediate asset to your faculty and virtual learning students. Our online academic coaches are tremendous resources to students in their related fields and are often able to help students outside of classroom questions as they have experience in the field that the student is hoping to break into after graduation.

Minimum Education Requirements for Online Academic Coaches

  • Undergraduate Level Courses: A minimum of a conferred Master’s Degree with at least 18 graduate hours in the specific course content area, additional experience in online education is preferred.
  • Graduate Level Course or Higher: A minimum of a conferred Master’s Degree in a related field with at least 18 graduate hours in the specific course content area. A Terminal Degree or actively pursual of a Terminal Degree is strongly preferred and may be required depending on the specific course or program. Additional experience in online education is preferred.

Contact Instructional Connections for More Information on Our Online Academic Coaches!

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How to Ensure Higher Participation in Your Online Education Courses

High participation in Online Education Courses

There have always been students who are more likely to participate in class and those who are not, but in online education courses, many students (even those who usually participate) are less likely to be a part of discussions, raise their hands, or comment. This can be due to a range of reasons, from feeling more anonymous online to discomfort with technology, audio lags, and more.

But instead of focusing on the problem, Instructional Connections provides tips on how to gain higher participation in your online education courses!

Tips to Increase Participation in Your Online Education Courses

Make Guidelines Clear

Make sure your class knows what is expected of them, participation, and engagement wise. Perhaps you think ‘participation’ means three to five comments in each discussion, but maybe the student thinks one will suffice. Make sure this disparity is taken off the table and explained so there are no misunderstandings.

Set your students up for success by providing clear guidelines at the start of the online education course. Define participation and your expectations, explain your grading, and lay it all out transparently for your students.

Start By Answering:

  • How often do your students have to be online?
  • Do you require formal or informal language in written discussions and responses?
  • How long does an answer or discussion response need to be?
  • What are the due dates for discussions and responses?

Use Chats to Check Understanding & Increase Participation

Every online platform has a chat feature, which means every online education course can use chat features to check for understanding of concepts to ease the class into speaking, discussing, and participating.

You could ask students to type a question or response into the chat, or even something as simple as a scale from 1-5 for understanding, interest, or a grade for the course lesson.

Utilize Small Group Discussion

It’s easy to hide in a large class, especially when it is distance learning online. But it is much more difficult (and less intimidating) to speak to a small group. You can keep the same small discussion groups every week, or mix it up so everyone in the class gets a chance to be in groups with every other student, but either way – smaller groups help facilitate better discussion and participation and prevent shyer students from staying silent.

Small self-led groups of three to five are often the best, as they naturally persuade everyone to improve their individual engagement levels.

Think, Pair, & Share

By giving a prompt, breaking the class into discussion pairs (even smaller than a small group), and then allowing them to discuss in their two-person pairs, it takes a lot of the pressure off and can make students more comfortable with each other, even without ever meeting in person.

Of course, as the professor cannot be with each breakout pair, ask each duo to write notes on a Google Doc to be sure they understood the prompt and discussed the topic.

After having all pairs return to the larger class, a volunteer from each group can share their answers in a lower-pressure ‘read’ format from their document notes.

Provide Actionable Feedback, Every Time

If you do not provide feedback (both in-depth and actionable) to improve your students’ work, then they may not see the point in turning in their work, or they may feel there is no way to improve or understand why they are receiving the grades they are.

Take the time to respond to assignments promptly and with actionable feedback that is more than a number grade. Give in-depth feedback that will help the student improve with their next submission, and lets them know you are truly reading each assignment and thinking of how you can help the student better absorb the material.

Comment on essays by section, discuss finer points of observations or discussion threads, and really dive deep into questions they may have misunderstood or only partially answered. Comprehensive, actionable feedback will give your students something to go back to and check before their next assignment or posting, and motivate them to remain engaged and keep reaching for a greater and deeper understanding of the topics.

Follow-Up & Check-In Often

If a student has a question, follow up. If they are struggling or received a poor grade, follow up. If they particularly enjoyed a lesson or topic, follow up. This may be more time consuming for you as the professor, but it will do wonders for classroom participation.

Be as involved in your online education courses as you can be, and if you need additional help due to time constraints – then reach out to Instructional Connections and our online academic coaches to help lift some of the burden of replying, commenting, long-form grading, and checking-in with each student.

Contact Instructional Connections for More Support for Your Online Courses & Distance Learning

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Virtual TAs or Graduate Assistants?

Virtual TAs on a laptop computer with a student

There are a few similarities between Instructional Connections’ virtual teaching assistants (TAs) and traditional graduate assistants (GAs). Let’s look at the benefits, differences, and similarities to see which could benefit your online programming in the shifting university climate of 2020 and beyond.

What Is a Traditional Graduate Assistant?

A graduate assistant is a current graduate student who helps a professor conduct lab or study groups, grade papers or prepare lectures, and may sometimes lead classes or lectures. Graduate assistants may work in their own program or a different field. There is a stipend (financial assistance) that is provided for this type of part-time academic employment, and often the university pays or waves their tuition as well.

What Do Traditional Graduate Assistants Do?

A graduate assistant helps their professor teach large classes, grades homework and projects, may run academically-related errands, and help in other ways that the professor needs for the success of the class. Other graduate assistantships may include research, editing of manuscripts, even lecturing or running discussions in-class.

The classes that graduate assistants teach are usually introductory courses in their field of study, or a similar one, as they are not yet in the field and have little to no experience beyond their current classes. For example, an English GA may lead a 101 English course for Freshmen, whereas a GA in a Science field may prepare, set-up, and clean-up labs for an introductory lab class, they may also review and grade scientific journals from the students and clean instruments.

The most important duties of a graduate assistant are:
  • Leading discussions and answering student questions within their understanding
  • Grading student essays, projects, labs, and tests
  • Recording grades and updating student records

What is a Virtual Teaching Assistant?

Unlike a graduate assistant, each Instructional Connection’s teaching assistant (AKA Virtual TA) is a highly-qualified, experienced professional in the appropriate academic field. Instead of current students, our virtual teaching assistants have already earned at least a Master’s or Doctoral degree from an accredited university. In fact, our virtual teaching assistants have an average of 14 years of industry experience in their field. This means your students are not being assisted by a current graduate student, but a professional in the field they are looking to join!

What Do Virtual Teaching Assistants Do?

Our virtual TAs are tremendous resources to students in their related fields. And our virtual teaching assistants’ goals are always aligned with your university’s specific priorities. Under the leadership and direction of your faculty, your virtual teaching assistant can assist with online grading, management of discussion threads, approved announcements, and day-to-day tasks.

Traditional graduate assistants mainly help in the classroom, and may lack experience in their field, whereas our virtual teaching assistants work online in distance learning programs (online courses) and have vast experience. Their responsibilities can include course issues related directly to distance learning, which has dramatically increased in 2020 due to COVID-19 and many universities moving toward fully online programs. This frees the faculty member of record to focus on engagement, course delivery, and outcomes.

The most important duties of an online teaching assistant are:
  • Daily tasks of assisting the professor in online courses
  • Answering questions, emails, and other messages from students 7 days a week
  • Managing online discussion threads and in forums
  • Posting approved announcements for the course
  • Grading student essays, projects, labs, and tests
  • Recording grades and updating student records

Instructional Connections’ Online Teaching Assistants Can Save Universities 20%-30%!

Universities that work with Instructional Connections can scale the delivery of their online education courses and degree programs at a substantially more affordable cost by using our online teaching assistants. By employing online TAs who directly support your Faculty of Record in online education courses and classrooms, your faculty can focus more time on student success and delegate supplemental tasks to our assistants.

With so many universities needing to move to online and distance learning, our virtual TAs are in high demand and can help your programs migrate online seamlessly. Contact us today to learn more!

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Online Teaching Assistants: Who We Are, What We Do, & Why

Online Teaching Assistant working with 2 students

Online teaching assistants from Instructional Connections can be hugely helpful for your distance learning and online courses. Especially in light of the current rapidly changing academic world due to the continued impacts of COVID-19.

Instructional Connections built a model of flexibility and providing customized support due to the course and curriculum needs of each of our University partners through the use of our online teaching assistants.

However, this leads to some of the most common questions we get from the Colleges and Universities we support. Some of these questions are, what can our online teaching assistants do? What are their responsibilities? And how can our online teaching assistants best help remote learning environments and student success?

Let’s look at Instructional Connections as a whole, as well as our online teaching assistants’ roles and responsibilities to best answer these questions.

Who We Are: The History & Mission of Our Online Teaching Assistants

First started in July 2010, Instructional Connections wanted to be a better provider of instructional support services to colleges and universities which offered online courses and degree programs. We did this by providing online teaching assistants or academic coaches.

No other North American company works the way we do. And while many online support companies are solutions looking for a problem, we provide support in any way our clients need.

Our online teaching assistants and support services are flexible to each college and university we work with. And this means, more and more often, our partner colleges and universities are requesting additional ways we can support them.

What We Do: Roles & Responsibilities of Our Online Teaching Assistants

  1. Our online teaching assistants will complete any inter-rater reliability activities that are prescribed by your faculty. This ensures that that the TAs grade to the faculty’s standards and expectations.
  2. Our online teaching assistants are able to grade assignments per a detailed rubric and faculty direction. Our TAs grade materials with substantial feedback and return them within 72 hours of the due date. Which means no more waiting for grades and no rushed grading for your faculty or missed deadlines for online submissions of graded assignments.
  3. Our online teaching assistants will monitor and participate in asynchronous discussion threads per the direction of your faculty. They will facilitate conversations, answer questions, and help the students discuss deeper into the subject matter. For many online courses that are largely writing and discussion-based, our online teaching assistants are invaluable! Our TAs save your faculty time while helping students understand the material.
  4. Our online teaching assistants will answer and respond to all inquiries, emails, messages, and calls within 24 hours, seven days a week! Even if their answer is to simply let the student know that they will have to perform their own research or consult with the faculty. No correspondence will be left unanswered for more than 24 hours, even on weekends.
  5. Our online teaching assistants actively participate in weekly faculty and online teaching assistant conference calls. That way, they may review the faculty’s expectations, grading, rubrics, failing or at-risk students. This also allows for discussing any issues in the class, scheduling, or upcoming needs and assignments.
  6. Finally, our online teaching assistants maintain compliance with all university policies and regulations, including FERPA.

Our Online TAs Become Tremendous Resources to Students in Their Related Field

Under the leadership and direction of your faculty, our online teaching assistants can assist with grading, management of discussion threads, approved announcements, and day-to-day tasks. Additional responsibilities may include course issues related to distance learning, as well.

Plus, each of our online teaching assistants is a highly qualified, experienced professional in the appropriate academic discipline. Each and every one has earned at least a Master’s degree. Each teaching assistant also, has 14 years of industry experience in their field of instruction.

This means our online teaching assistants possess the academic credentials and the experience to become an immediate asset to your faculty and students.

How Our Online Teaching Assistant Model Works

1. Understanding Your Needs

We first understand what each college or university needs relative to instructional support needs. We strive to understand all missions that each school desires through in-depth meetings.

2. Recruiting Online Teaching Assistants

Additionally, we recruit, screen, pre-qualify, and present online teaching assistant candidates. Each candidate has been vetted and is available in our pool for approval by university partners.

3. Assigning Online TAs

We assign online teaching assistants and other support staff to courses and programs. This is based on university, college, or even course-specific needs for distance learning. We understand the hurdles and benefits of online programs and distance learning. Which is why we work hard to help you manage your distance learning courses for optimal student success.

4. Training Online Teaching Assistants

We train candidates on learning management systems used by our university partners and orient them into courses and your distance learning programs. Additionally, we are happy to work closely with faculty on the best practices of how to work with and use their online teaching assistants. We want our partners to understand our model, and us to understand how course objectives and outcomes are met.

5. Organizing Our Online Teaching Assistants

Next, we independently contract, manage, and pay our online teaching assistants. This means we handle all organization of staffing provided to fulfill the service needs on behalf of university partners. This eliminates universities from adding additional human resources and payroll overhead.

6. Accountability of Our Online Teaching Assistants

Additionally, we ensure accountability by having supportive leadership staff who work directly with the university’s administration and faculty. This ensures that our TAs meet the faculty member’s expectations, rubric, and goals fully. We strive to meet expectations through our services and our online teaching assistants.

7. Support Throughout the Semester

Finally, we provide continual support to each distance learning course using our online teaching assistants. From start to finish. We are there throughout the semester for our university partners.

Contact Instructional Connections for More Information on Our Online Teaching Assistants!

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How to Set-Up Your Classrooms for Success in Distance Learning & Online Education

computer being used for distance learning and online education class

There are no doubts that online education can have large benefits – but there are also some hurdles that can take extensive planning and set-up to be successful. And as many Universities will be implementing new procedures for online classrooms and distance learning, it is important to get your set-up prepped and ready many weeks in advance!

Here Are Some of the Best Ways to Handle Your Set-Up Before Your Online Education Classes Begin

Be Comfortable with the Technology that Online Education Requires

Just because you teach online doesn’t mean you have to be a technical wizard, but you do need to be comfortable with the technology you will be using. From powerpoints to online quizzes, grading software, and video features, it helps to know how each piece of your technology works so you do not spend time in class troubleshooting.

But first and foremost, the right hardware and software will make this work much more smoothly, so be sure to not only know your technology but invest in good technology. You need a fast computer, strong internet service, and a good platform to meet your classroom’s needs.

Your Work Environment or Physical ‘Classroom’ Still Matters

We may all be working remotely, from home, or through distance learning, but our environment still sets the stage for our online course. Make sure you are setting a good example by showing a tidy and academic work environment. And just like you need certain things out of your physical office or classroom, you should also look to maintain (or create) certain things in the backdrop for your virtual classroom.

If possible, your workspace should be intended for work only – not a kitchen counter or from your couch. You want this space to be friendly and engaging, but also a productive space. Avoid distractions like television, other family members, pets and household chores, or outside noises. Natural lighting can be a great asset as well.

Communicate Regularly with Your Students to Ensure Everyone is on the Same Page

There may be miscommunications due to distance learning instead of face-to-face conversations, try to mitigate these instances by communicating often and clearly to your class. Many students are intimidated by online learning and may not ask as many questions, while others will view you as ‘always available’ via email or text. Make sure you explain your communication strategy early on in your online course.

It is good to explain the best way to reach you, your expected turnaround time for replies or answers, and where resources and answers are available before reaching out to professors or others. This way you can balance the need for frequent communication, with the possibility of running over into overcommunication or constant communication.

Though it is important to maintain a consistent online presence, this can be wearing for many professors, which is where an online academic coach from Instructional Connections can come in handy, as our coaches are able to handle the vast bulk of class communication to free the faculty’s time for planning and class execution.

Just as You Give Feedback, Make Sure You Ask for it & Recieve it as Well

Oftentimes your students are learning what online or distance learning looks like just as you are, so gain their feedback as well as your own. See what worked well, what didn’t work so well, what could work better in the future, and more.

Communication goes both ways, and so does feedback, so ask your students, other faculty, and other sources altogether about what worked and what needs improvement. Online learning is not new, however, the magnitude to which it is being used has never been seen before – make sure we are using this opportunity to expand and improve it every semester.

Ultimately, Planning Your Distance Learning & Online Education Classes Sets Your Students Up for Success

When your students are not physically in front of you, you have to plan and prepare even more to make sure you are using your time well and helping your student in the most effective ways.

However, this takes more time.

That is why an online academic coach from Instructional Connections may be the perfect answer to your extended distance learning needs.

Who Are Our Online Academic Coaches?

Our online academic coaches are highly qualified, experienced professionals in the appropriate academic discipline and have earned at least a Master’s degree from an accredited university. On average, our online academic coaches have 14 years of industry experience in their field!

Our academic coaches’ goals are fully customizable to your classroom and its needs. Because under the leadership and direction of your faculty, our online academic coaches can assist you with grading assignments, managing discussion threads, posting approved announcements, and managing day-to-day tasks and course issues in distance learning like communication.

And the best part? We have been doing this since long before COVID-19 and the push for online learning, so we have our process and systems perfectly in place already.

Contact Instructional Connections for Online Education Assistance or to Learn More About Our Distance Learning Academic Coaches & Support

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Online Education Courses: Advantages & Difficulties

Online education courses on a laptop and notebook

Instructional Connections knows that there are many varied advantages of utilizing online education classes or distance learning. From a potentially higher quality of instruction and constant communication to cost savings, student independence, and responsibility, online education courses can be a wonderful addition or replacement for traditional, in-person degree fields.

Some of the largest benefits that we have identified by speaking with online students, faculty, and researchers include flexibility, savings, independence, time-management, career preparation, access, and connectivity.

Let’s go over these advantages, as well as the potential difficulties that online students face due to distance learning, or online education courses.

Online Education Course Advantages for Students & Faculty

Online Education Courses Provide Students with Greater Flexibility

One of the biggest advantages of online classes that we hear echoed time and time again is the ability to fit learning into an existing schedule. Whether your students are spread across multiple cities or states, or if they travel for work and cannot commit to being in the same physical classroom week after week – locational flexibility is important to many in 2020.

Students in online education courses are given the freedom to complete lessons from anywhere, which gives not only the institution the ability to reach a broader audience not constrained by geographical location, but also allows the students more freedom. This locational flexibility allows students to save travel time as well, fitting more into their busy schedules and less time on a bus or in their car, parking, and walking to the classroom.

Online Education Courses Can Offer Cost Savings to Students

The expense of going to college is one of the biggest reasons students hold back from enrolling in a program, however, online education courses are often able to lower their overhead, which is appealing for many students on budgets. And the potential savings of online education courses aren’t always in the form of tuition, either.

Not paying for on-campus parking, meal plans or eating out, and gas can all contribute to lower student costs compared to in-person traditional classes. And because online education courses are often more flexible and don’t require as much travel time, students are able to work more and earn more, furthering their financial stability.

Online Education Courses Can Provide Better Career Preparation & More Independence

Learning valuable and necessary information in university courses is wonderful, but some students have reported feeling that the information they gain throughout their degree doesn’t always translate into their actual career path. However, our virtual teaching assistants who work alongside faculty in their online education courses, all have experience in the field and in the careers the students are aspiring to enter – this means better career preparation from day one!

Additionally, online education courses often expect the student to create their own schedule that will allow them to finish their projects on time, learn the material, and generally gives them a large portion of the responsibility for their own education – just like the responsibilities they will have to handle in their career of choice.

Online courses, especially in modern times surrounded by technology, are quite similar to working in an office or at a traditional desk job with personal deadlines and meetings to remember and attend. From staying in touch via email to understanding project management software, managing your own time, remotely working with a team, and completing projects on a set deadline, all of these skills translate directly to the workforce, often even more so than traditional in-person education courses.

Online Education Courses Offer More Connectivity & Better Access 

Online education courses are, by definition, more accessible and connect you more than in-person courses. Not only through freedom and flexibility, but simply because they focus on internet access for connecting to the course, information, assignments, faculty, and other students. In our modern era, the internet, or other digital means, are how the majority of our interactions are facilitated – and education is no different.

The instant ability to access your course materials, schedule, assignments, lessons, and communicate with others makes online education courses highly appealing to modern students. And being able to connect with students and instructors wherever they are is the icing on the educational cake.

Difficulties of Online Education Courses

While there are many great advantages of online education courses, there are always downsides. In fact, a positive for one student, like personal responsibility, may be a negative for another learning style.

Less Peer Interaction

Though online education courses connect students to their coursework, peers, and instructors with ease, it is not the same as in-person interactions. Some students prefer and thrive better in social environments. 

Understanding the social aspect of classes should be considered in all online course plans, as adding group work or projects may be highly beneficial for online course or degree students.

Potential Time-Management Difficulties

The personal responsibility that comes with online education courses can be a disadvantage if the student struggles with time management. Without the accountability of a scheduled in-person class, some online students find it difficult to manage their workload and self-schedule their time.

Contact Instructional Connections to Learn More About Online Education Courses & Our Virtual Teaching Assistants & Academic Coaches

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Research

Determining roles and best practices when using academic coaches in online learning

Online teaching and learning in nursing

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette recently had an article published in the Journal of Teaching and Learning in Nursing, entitled “Determining roles and best practices when using Academic Coaches in online learning.” The article acknowledges the continued growth of online learning and identifies the role that academic coaches maintain in an online learning environment, and highlights best practices when using academic coaches in an accelerated online course.

Teaching and Learning in Nursing. Official Journal of the Organization for Associate Degree Nursing.  Volume 15, Issue 4.  In progress (October 2020). This issue is in progress but contains articles that are final and fully citable.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1557308720300482?via%3Dihub

 

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