Connection to the course material is something we must encourage students to make for themselves. By encouraging this connection in our group activities and discussion questions, we can make the material relevant. When online course content is connected to the student, it is real even if it is not as tangible as a hard copy. In many cases, students entering higher education will be more experienced in the environment than their instructors. We must not exclude those students who are not as experienced.
Preparation is the key to any successful venture.
The importance of preparing students to handle information in this environment cannot be overstated. I have included a list of resources at the end of this presentation. Each of them has contributed to the presentation in some way. But the foundation of the presentation is my personal experience on both sides of online learning. As a student in an online learning environment, I had to learn to deal with information coming and going in all directions.