Will certificates signal quality online learning?

While watching college football one Saturday, I took note of the teams that recognize players’ game accomplishments with stickers on their helmets. Some of the players really have quite a collection proudly displayed on their helmets. By the way, if I were an opposing quarterback I think I would want to stay away from the most highly decorated players. It just seems a warning to me that a play I want to execute would have more chance of working if it went toward a less decorated player.

As I was watching the football games, I began to think about how to recognize the accomplishments of my students beyond the points for grades factor. I was already in this frame of mind as my online education class recently had discussed the merits of providing stickers, or more recess time, or certificates to students they will be teaching in the future. Many of the students in my education classes already have classroom experience and they observe that recognizing the students in such ways helps to optimize performance.  My students added that recognizing their own students in similar ways helps to motivate them, leads to better academic performance, improves discipline, and develops pride.

I will share that I too like having certificates sent to me. Whenever I attend an online webinar, such as those offered through the Softchalk Innovator’s series, I always say yes to the offer to send a certificate of attendance as an email attachment. Beyond the positive feeling of printing out a sheet of paper with my name on it that I receive, I also do have a practical reason for holding the certificates. They can be shared as tangible proof when administrators ask me to demonstrate that I am actively updating my skills.

Extending this to my online students, following the discussion assignment focused on the merits of awards, I attached a certificate of achievement to the comments I gave them. Several of the students wrote to thank me for taking the time to do so. I thought that nice, but it also showed me students also enjoyed the recognition. I had made my point. Now I plan to award them all a certificate following the completion of the course. I will also expand this to other courses I teach.

Will the concept of including certificates of achievement become more common in the future? I think it is quite possible, as a way to signal quality of coursework.

With the ever-expanding world of online learning, I think a signal of quality of coursework will become a factor. I submit that certificates could become more and more important as indicators of achievement. For example, perhaps a group of instructors working independently or through an institution will more and more offer certificates to students who complete their courses. A group of instructors will need to discuss the standards that the students will achieve, and together they will be designing courses that meet those qualities. In so doing, the certificates awarded will gain more and more value over time as the merits of the courses become better known. As an instructor, I would like to see certificates and other indicators of success in a student’s portfolio. The more I know about the student’s path to my courses the more I know about what to do to help the student.

I have already mentioned Softchalk and this is a good source for implementation of certificates into a lesson. Certificates can be automatically delivered to students upon completion of a lesson and the inclusion of a percentage earned on a test can be included. In addition, Microsoft offers free template downloads for certificates. All that is needed is for a teacher to add his or her own creativity.

With that being said, I must end now and find that old shoebox full of old track medals and school awards I have buried somewhere in a closet.

Parents teach themselves to become better students

How likely is it being a parent helps you to become a self-reliant student?

Chances are very good, I think, that organizing children does indeed help anyone to become more self-reliant as a student. I submit as we organize others we ourselves become better organized. If we have any success at all in helping others to succeed, we ourselves must succeed. That is, to teach a lesson one has to first learn the content. To learn how to help children succeed, I think, especially adds to the challenge.

In my Composition I class, college students are now submitting their third essays. Quite often the topic choice to compare life before becoming a parent with life after becoming one is chosen. It is a favorite, for sure, and certainly draws upon personal experiences. Students who are parents often write that they are motivated in college because they find themselves more determined to be a good role model for their children, see the need to acquire more skills for career advancement, and are driven by a new-found sense of responsibility. Each of these is admirable, of course.

Most recently one young mother presented a unique twist to the thesis when she wrote that the self-discipline she demands of her children to succeed in their education she now applies to herself in her own college studies and, therefore, she is a better student for doing so. It is a practice what one preaches as an approach to being a student. It also warms the heart of instructors as we desire to see self-reliance in our students.
To explain, the student wrote that she sees value in limiting the number of hours her children are allowed to watch television. Rather she is determined that her children show her how much homework they have to do, discuss with her the day’s school lessons, and show her their progress. The children are now old enough and have study habits engrained enough that she says she herself has time to go back to school. With that, she admits she too has to limit her own TV viewing, work her own study habits, and even take time to discuss with the children what she is learning in college. In this day of electronic equipment screaming for our attention, these study habits are to be applauded.

Also, my student tells her children that their friends must go home at a certain time so that adequate hours for studying can be applied. Furthermore, the friends may not call for social visits either via phone or computer. I myself think this is very difficult as emails, phones, and text messages constantly ask us for attention. Of course, there are some family members and some friends who will always be immediately answered, but to have the discipline to not be distracted with every message alert is in my view another reason for applause. I wonder if the student also has the inner strength to pass on ice cream and chocolate cake. You know, we are only human. It just seems to be this type of discipline we want to be able to call upon, that when something tempting one loves is in front of him or her the power to resist comes into play.

Finally, my student noted that she has learned better reading habits too because of all the reading she did with her children. Of course, her reading these days are at a more advanced level. However, she learned to be patient with her children’s question, and now with her own. She also learned to answer their questions in depth for herself. She learned that children often bring to the same books new insights, and that repetition is valued, as well as, for her, note-taking. She reads through content at least twice for better comprehension.

So, it seems, my student has not only taught her children quality study habits, but surprised herself that in so doing was actually teaching herself to become a self-reliant student. How wonderful that my student gave me as a teacher insight into this family secret.