Yvonne's Tips For Teacher Blog

Yvonne's Tips For Teacher Blog

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Post 495: How To Promote Psychological Safety In the Online Classroom

 





Learning online can be isolating. To promote student interaction, it is essential to establish a welcoming environment right away to encourage the student to participate in the online class. Psychological Safety is an important component of getting the student to bond with the teacher and succeed in the online classroom. When students feel safe to say whatever they want, they are more willing to take risks, and they are more creative. To promote an atmosphere of Psychological Safety in the online classroom, I do the following:
A) I foster a culture of respect, openness, and inclusion by encouraging my students to agree to disagree. I allow all my students to say how they feel when we interact in the forums.
B) I actively listen to the students when I reach out to the students during 1st week by calling all my students on the phone and I listen to their needs and ascertain what areas of improvement they need to make in their writing.
C) Besides the telephone, I also actively listen to students when I reply to student emails right away to show that I care. It is showing that you care and making students aware that you care for me is the most important component to getting students to trust the teacher.
D) I create a growth mindset in the classroom. I give constructive criticism to my teacher feedback that shows students areas of improvement in their writing. I teach students for instance the proper way to write a thesis statement and if a student gets a low grade, I call them on the phone and tell them how they can improve their grade and I tell the student not to get bummed out by the low grade because if they follow my feedback advice, they will be guaranteed a better grade. The trick is to not have the student give up just because of a low grade. It is all about getting better and having a growth mindset.
E) I encourage questions and open discussions in the forums. I relate the core concepts of the class to the real world. As I told Gordon recently about a student who got promoted in her job because her boss noticed a vast improvement in her writing and communication skills. The student was thrilled that she could apply what she learned in her ENGL 101 class to get promoted and get a raise in her job.
F)  I teach students to value diverse perspectives by encouraging students to learn about different cultures and to get out of their comfort zone.
G) Most importantly, I build trust with my students by creating a sense of not just Psychological Safety, but I also develop a sense of belonging in that classroom.  Building Psychological safety in the classroom promotes learning, creativity, and trust. 
For me, the most rewarding aspect of teaching is the bond between student and teacher and the feeling that I've made a positive difference in a student's life.

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