13054

13054

General Session - Conference Presentation Only (20 minutes, no formal paper)

John Thompson, Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY, USA, jthompson62@verizon.net
 * Use Human Touch to Engage Online Students **

Online instructors first need to be engaged if they want their students engaged. Learn how “human touch” serves to get everyone engaged. Human touch is really all about creating and maintaining relationships. When students sense a trusting, caring relationship on the part of their instructor, students begin to perceive that their online experience is as much about them, or even more so, than the curriculum, projects, and test results. Students feel that their instructor is trying to establish a warm, supportive relationship, their sense of belonging and engagement increases. That's just human nature. The presentation will highlight examples of “human touch” in online courses, including those used by the presenter who has taught over 100 online courses. Goals: 1. Clarify what students are looking for in online courses and instructors. 2. Explain use of “human touch” in online learning. 3. Discuss some of the best practices of human touch in online instruction. 4. Show how instructors can increase their human touch by using their presence and technology tools to enhance student interaction and engagement by.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, All Audiences <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">engage, human touch