One of my most memorable online learning experience was during my co-op term last summer in China. I worked in an international trading company, and our company was trying to extend the market in an online trading platform like Amazon, eBay, and Taobao. As the employee who was in charge of managing online stores, I must be trained by a professional. The course was detailed and great organized, and my instructor Miss. Xu was an experienced expert in this industry. Although the course was taught online, and I have never met her in real life. I still feel the connection between her and myself.
Image from Finextra.com
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/32772/amazon-casts-a-long-dark-shadow-over-banking
The course started from a very basic level, maybe she was aware that I am only an undergrad student. She didn’t quite treat me like a young employee like most people do, instead, more like a high school teacher. Miss. Xu is extremely patient, polite, and the most important thing is, she really knows how to catch my attention and slowly cultivate my interest. By listening to her class, I feel way more encouraged and I made progress fast than I expected.
Every morning, the instruction video made by Miss. Xu will be sent to my email. A very interesting point is, she never started the class from the beginning, instead of that, she does a small talk about her job, life after work or news. And during the video, she also tried to make a connection with me by making examples of a student shopping online. It really helps me focus because it felt like listening to a friend talking, but not taking a class. Also, it encourages me to think from the customers’ point of view and clarify my decisions. I have a whole day to accomplish her assignments and analyze the knowledge. Before the end of the day, we will video chat by a professional office software “Dingding”. Miss. Xu will Airplay her screen to me and clarify all the problems with me, step by step and very detailed.
Image from Inside Higher ED
https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/views/2017/04/19/three-ways-humanize-online-class
There are only 7 classes in a term, and I was meant to finish my own online store at the end of the term. However, this term doesn’t end after classes. Miss. Xu gave me a huge surprise by pretending to be my customers in the few following weeks. She checked my website and ask me lots of tricky questions that other customers may ask. I guess this is her pop quizzes, but thanks for her advice, I could handle it smoothly.
There is something great about Miss. Xu, and it can be explained professionally by using the theories we learned in EDCI 339. First, she values the humanization of online learning a lot more than other instructors. Considering I am still a student and not quite experienced in online trading, she adjusted her teaching method to be more tender. It makes the student feel less stressful and calm, which also make them more productive. The small talks and greetings in instruction videos are also reflections of humanization. Miss. Xu shows empathy to an intern who was having a hard time at work, built a connection to encourage me and help me perform better in this subject.
Image from eduspire.org
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/32772/amazon-casts-a-long-dark-shadow-over-banking
Second, the software she chose is very efficient for online teaching. It a combination of multimedia education video. It allows Miss. Xu to video chat and do screen sharing performance at the same time, so she could explain and clarify my problems at the same time. In my opinion, video chat helps me grow interests in this subject since it feels like talking to her face to face, and I can share my opinions and questions as soon as possible. Since I was working on a platform, listening, and reading is not efficient and causes many misunderstandings. Screen sharing is a great decision, I could follow every step quickly and accurately.