Building Trust in a Virtual Classroom

As I embarked on my first on line course nearly three years ago, I wasn't able to escape the uncertainties that plaque many new students. Was I smart enough? Would I understand the content? Could I keep up with the workload? Could I articulate the thoughts related to the content in writing? When I stepped back to analyze what I was thinking and feeling, I realized I was experiencing a whole host of emotions, that I later found out, are experienced by many students new to on line learning. That initial self-discovery has been the catalyst for two and a half years of research related to the 'soft-side' of on line learning.

What emotions do learners new to virtual classrooms experience? How do these emotions differ from those experienced in the traditional face to face classroom? Are there critical characteristics that must be ever present in the virtual classroom to make it successful?
I want to take a moment to explore one element that is an absolute necessity in all types of learning environments and that is -- trust.

I recently heard an analogy that related building trust to building a savings account (I call it a Trust Fund) Over time, people interact in certain ways which we either agree and therefore trust is deposited in the Fund. When we don't agree with actions, or they don't follow through, the Trust Fund is decremented. Interesting thing about trust is that in general it is built over time, but it can be wiped out quite easily. That is, unless you have a very solid Fund Manager!

Trust can be tenuous at best in a classroom setting so in a virtual environment we as facilitators need to be extra sensitive to the plight of students. In an online environment, I'm unable to, even sub-consciously, read the visual cues that are being displayed by students. I'm totally reliant on the screen in front of me to read the written word. I am unable to see smiles or frowns of the author or recipient of the post. This is how many misunderstandings occur. Folks reading this, you get my point. Yet there are numerous proven strategies for working through the lack of visual cues in on line learning and facilitate personal and community building in on line environments. Those strategies will be the focus of my next blog and perhaps one focus of my Capstone.

I'll revisit this when I have some links to articles to post.