Humanizing to a Higher Level

Dr. Michelle Pacansky-Brock takes humanizing to a higher level. Watch Dr. Pacansky-Brock’s video and explore her strategy and how she executes by adding a humanizing touch to teaching and learning.

If you would like to view an accessible and downloadable version of the captions from this video, please download the VTT Word document: Dr. Michelle Pacansky-Brock – Module 1

Did you feel a connection with Michelle? Would you be more comfortable with an instructor and other members of the learning community if you perceive a connection? How much emphasis should you put on humanizing within the teaching and learning process?

Humanizing is bringing the human factor into an online classroom (Ducharme-Hansen & Dupin-Bryant, 2005) and building relationships so that the students feel a sense of community towards the course, their peers, and their instructor.

This requires the implementation of effective practices and careful thinking on the instructor’s part. Due to the constraints of physical distance, students may feel there is a lack of empathy Russell (2006) and therefore yearn for instructors who care and make their presence felt by understanding them (Pacansky-Brock, 2014). Besides reiterating the importance of audio and video messages to humanize the class, there are other practices that can help lay a foundation of meaningful interactions and community building to help you achieve the same goal:

1. Reveal your personality: Create a welcoming environment and allow students to put a face to your name and know you a little better. There are various ways to do this and the simplest being posting a photograph of yourself and writing a short bio that can include your professional and personal background and interests. You can also create a short slideshow video or a short introductory video of yourself, introducing you as the instructor and the introduction to the course. The video need not be perfect, can be prepared in a few minutes and should include your personal journey. Sarah Williams Welcome to Foothill College video shares her growth journey, her career steps and is presented in a warm, personal, and informal way so that all viewers may find it relatable. If you would like to view an accessible and downloadable version of the captions from this video, please download the VTT Word document: Dr. Sarah Williams – How I became Your Math Professor.
2. Establish a personal connection: An audio/video biography enables students to know you and therefore increasing the potential to strengthen the bond.
3. Convey meaning in a natural way: The use of brief instructional videos besides an introductory video is a great way to bond in a meaningful way. You can prepare brief instructional videos that may be imperfect and casual. They can convey instructional meaning but at the same time can portray your natural, humane side.
4. Cherish your informal and creative side: Create video postcards. Send an informal video postcard, featuring yourself outside your workspace, and beyond the class hours.

These tactics can create a sense of belonging and help develop trust among the students:

1. Prepare for mindfulness: Incorporating mindfulness practices in your courses can help relieve stress and anxiety of your students as well as your own self. This can help in establishing a connection with the students as it portrays you like a more real, humane, authentic, and honest instructor.
2. Provide more personalized and humanized feedback: At the beginning of the session gather student images, avatars, background information etc. and include the same while giving them feedback. This helps in associating a face to your learner thus visualizing them while giving personalized feedback and thus conveying that they care. Use personal notes to make a connection with the students. At the beginning of the course, gather a few facts about students. This can be done in the form of a “Getting to know you” short survey assignment at the beginning of the course. More about this survey is discussed in the next section. Then later integrate these facts while making any comment or giving feedback. This small gesture makes the student valued and respected. Michelle Pacansky-Brock shares her choice of technology tools in her Tool Buffet if you need ideas for getting technical with humanizing.
3. Provide a warm demeanour: Support the students towards overcoming higher challenges. Encourage the students to achieve more and become more independent and offer extra support, where you are assertive and caring. As the course progresses, note the lapses and dips and reach out to those students to identify their challenges and offer support to overcome them. This may entail resources that your institution has in place, that may be provided by the student services department(counsellors and mentors).  For more on demeanor, check out the Teaching Online podcast as they host Michelle Pacansky-Brock (episode #64).
4. Provide an ‘Oops Token’: You may wish to set up a token system and allow students to turn in a token if they feel that they will miss an assignment submission deadline or wish to revise or resubmit the assignment. One or more of such changes can be offered to students to convey your empathy towards them.