Miranda Regnitz, MS, PMP is the Curriculum Project Manager for NCU's School of Education. She draws on her insights completing an online degree, experience working at an online university, and exceptional project management skills to provide you with tips for finding success and getting the most out of your virtual education. If you're in an online program - you don't want to miss this!
Miranda Regnitz, MS, PMP is the Curriculum Project Manager for NCU's School of Education. She draws on her insights completing an online degree, experience working at an online university, and exceptional project management skills to provide you with tips for finding success and getting the most out of your virtual education. If you're in an online program - you don't want to miss this!
Best brings you exciting and practical tips for improving your virtual teaching and virtual learning experience. I am so excited to be speaking with Miranda Regnitz today about online teaching and learning, and her personal experience as an online master's student. Hi, Miranda, welcome to the desk. Hi, thank you happy to be here. Can you tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you're going to share with us today?
Yeah, um, so I am Miranda Regnitz I have been in the world of online higher education for well between 15 and 18 years, I guess, depending on while I guess, including the fact that I was an online learner as part of my bachelor's degree, I started working in online higher education as an enrollment counselor, and stayed with that for about half of my career so far. And during that time, also pursued my master's degree entirely online, and have stayed in online and have now moved into a project management role where I work with faculty to help them develop online courses for university for NC. So that's I I've had a lot of experience on the back end, working in online higher education, but like I said, also have been an online student have supported many family members as online students and students, you know, over the last 1015 years, right, that's a lot of experience with online learning and online teaching.
And you've said your husband was also an online learner. So you were a support person for him as well, right? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. That's great. I'm really excited to hear about what your suggestions are for other students, or people who are teaching or supporting others who are online. And I know I shared with you that I did some learning online as well in my doctoral program, which was a hybrid program. So this should be an interesting conversation. Yes, definitely. So when we were thinking about this podcast, there were kind of three areas that really stood out to us as we were talking about what it's like to learn online, family, professors and fellow students. And we were thinking that we would talk about each of those. So let's start with family. What are some thoughts about how family can support or help online learners?
02:34
Definitely, I think I'll go on some of my personal experience, but also what I would recommend to my students, when we were working through some of that just initial What is it going to be like, when I'm an online student? And, and how is that different than being on ground. So with when it comes to family, I think the more that you can share that you're comfortable sharing with your family, the better.
03:01
So, you know, maybe taking a step further than, hey, I'm enrolled and saying, I'm enrolled. And, you know, my assignments are going to be due regularly on Sundays, or, you know, whatever that looks like, have them be more, you know, giving them more details is going to help them support you, and invite them to check in on you. You know, and, you know, I would say one of the biggest things that I learned as a student in my master's program,
03:35
I was pretty, I felt consistently having to decline invitations to family gatherings, because they seem to very consistently be only on Sundays. And Sunday was one of the two days that I had to be at home and finishing schoolwork so that I could get it submitted on time, because everything was due on a Sunday. So once I got ahead of that with my family and said, Listen, if you want me to attend to these things, they're going to need to be on a different date, not just on Sundays, you know, just having them be a part of it is huge. M
aking sure that if you do have other friends or people who you connect with on social media, that they're that they know, like, a couple of people know that you're in school is going to be hugely important and invite them to check in on you as well. That's a great, great idea and great suggestion. It makes me think that that's probably true. If you're teaching online as well to have people in your life understand why you might be working on the weekend, because you're checking in with your online learners. So what about professors? Yeah, what would you say to professors? You I know have helped me a lot behind the scenes in my job at ncu. What advice or observations have you made
05:00
I think the biggest thing that I've learned from both sides is that regular checking in with students and vice versa students intentionally checking in with their professor, I think that the I look back at the courses where I was most successful, I was regularly engaged with my professor, I see what I've learned, actually, in conversations with you, and some of the other faculty that I work with hear it and see you. They, they will meet students where they are. So if that is through text message through zoom calls, through email, however, that that that whatever mode is best to reach and communicate with students, they're going to meet you there.
And I think that one of the, one of the most challenging things is feeling like you're online, and you're going through your program, or you're going through a course, especially a course that's difficult and feeling like oh, my gosh, I feel really nervous to reach out to my professor or I feel like, Oh, this is not an appropriate question or not, like a worthwhile question. And it's just not the case, I think that you need to have that comfort and being able to reach out and have those conversations rather than swirling on something and not getting where you need to get to be able to get your assignments done.
06:28
And another suggestion I would have is it, especially at the beginning of starting a program, and then throughout the program, have a contact list of your instructor, your professor, your advisors, or IT support contact information, have all of that analyst, keep it on your desktop, email it to yourself so that if you are away from your home computer, and you have something happening, that you can reach out to them, and you know exactly where that contact information is definitely would recommend having that I have needed that many times. That is a great suggestion.
And I have to say we have Dr. Katie Bo votes on VESC, who's created 60 seconds of engagement for students. And that's one of the suggestions that she makes right on that video series. So I couldn't agree more. And as a professor at ncu, I can tell you that it is really helpful to hear from students when they first begin the class or any time during the class. But especially in that beginning, it helps me to know where they're coming from and, and what their background is.
07:38
There's so much that you can share with your professor that it really will help everything's throughout the rest of that course, you know, sharing with them what program you're in, or even specialization because they don't always know what that is. So having, like you said that conversation up front to kind of know, where they're starting from, where they are, where they hope to go, those are really awesome conversations to have that connect you. And you know, just having that additional connection in and of itself. It does help it just helps you get through the course. And you know, you are then more comfortable to ask questions, when something does come up. That's confusing.
Another great thing is even if you're not confused about something in the course, having that conversation throughout the course or your program, asking them for their tips, I have done that a couple of times. And it's been hugely helpful because they're going to tell you like, Oh, I use this particular tool to organize or I use this particular system, or or process to be able to do my research or Oh, you know, if you if you haven't looked into this particular author or publication, definitely bookmark this, you know, you're having those conversations is going to lead you into entities that you would otherwise not really have much of a clue about.
09:02
Well, it's so true that, you know, again, it helps on the professor side too. For me, I can target my feedback to students, if I know that they're teaching in a certain discipline or in a certain area, it definitely makes it helpful. And I feel like I'm giving better feedback, better quality feedback when I know something about the student or something that's going on with them. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So what about fellow students? This is might be different in other universities, but I know in the ncu, one to one model, people might be reluctant to reach out. What advice do you have there?
09:40
You got to do it. So wherever you are, whichever program you're in, if it's not at NC u, you know, I don't know. In the past, I would say it connecting with other students has been probably my biggest challenge.
09:55
You know, there didn't there wasn't necessarily It wasn't laid out, you know, it's like, oh, here, be sure to do this, or you could connect with other students in this way. It was kind of going out of my comfort zone and asking other people, you know, as you're comfortable to share contact information, maybe you're creating a study group, maybe for somebody else is creating a study group, and you want to get connected to them. But I would say one of the best things that ncu is, we have like our own social media network called the comments. And I think it is like the best kept secret about this program is a hugely beneficial to. So the commons has all these areas based on program specialization, special interests, all kinds of things, for students to be able to connect with other students. And it's, it's similar to social media in the sense, like, you can get a daily recap in your email, you can tag other people in conversations you are going to be you're, you're given this opportunity to connect with other students, and it's huge. You hold each other accountable.
You asked each other questions, you know, we were talking about questions you might not want to ask Professor asked another student, um, it's, it's, it's a wonderful asset that ncu has, and I can't speak more highly of it. I really love it, too. It's something that I enjoy him as the steward for the social emotional learning group on the comments. And I've seen students connect on there. And unfortunately, it doesn't happen. As much as I'd like it to happen. I really have tried to ask people to reach out with their questions, but I have seen students connect on there and then decide to you know, read a book together or go to a conference together. And I think that is a fabulous opportunity, that network, this is a time to network when you're in school, right? Absolutely.
The networking in and of itself is a reason to get out of your comfort zone, and to go into the comments and to start connecting with other people. Because, you know, when you think about going to school on ground, and you know, you're making connections with people, these are people that you connect with, and maintain friendships with and support systems with for the rest of your life. And that that happens through the comments as well, I'm seeing it happen. And it's, it's a huge opportunity, like I said, to be able to get in there and to have additional support. Going to school online is tough, it's not easy. When you show your computer, it goes away, you know, it's, it's this thing, you have to be actively engaged in making sure that that you're staying in it so that you can finish and graduate and the Commons is a huge way to help help you help yourself make that happen.
12:55
Definitely, it's a great opportunity. I would also recommend students reach out on LinkedIn and develop a LinkedIn profile while they're in school and making that network grow. I mean, you're here to learn, but you're also here to advance in your career. So to just keep, keep making those connections as much as you can.
13:15
Definitely. So let's move on to the last question that we asked. Ask everybody on the best podcast. And if you would fill in the blank, I used to think virtual teaching and learning was now I think virtual teaching and learning is okay, way back 1520 years ago, I used to think virtual teaching and learning was totally the easy way out.
13:46
I was like, Oh, my gosh, I could go to school online, and then I could just keep working. That's so great. You know, and this will be a breeze, I just set up my assignments whenever I want. And it's totally not it.
14:02
Oh, what I think virtual teaching and learning is, is this huge opportunity. And they just see it as the way of the future for for those of us who do want to continue working and not even continue working. I know so many people who are pursuing to go online, because they just need, they need some flexibility. They need it for other reasons. And it is it's just complete. It's not completely different, but it's pretty different than going to school on ground. And I would see one of the biggest ways that it's different. It's just the type of learning that's happening. It does seem more applicable and immediately usable in the workplace, because it isn't just test taking. And that's what I felt a lot of what was going on in my bachelor's program. And I talked to students and we're I was explaining this is going to be different than what you've actually
15:00
And ground, because you're writing papers, you're applying things that you're learning. And you're doing that through writing, creating, you know, working on projects, things like that. And I just think the the type of work that you're doing within an online program is very applicable to what we're doing in our jobs. So yeah, I think it's awesome, obviously.
15:25
So yeah, I don't think it's the easy way out.
15:31
It is way harder. Right. Right. So that is, um, that's that round wrapping up our session. But I have to say, I still have one other question that I wish I had asked you. You work as a project manager. And I think that that means you have a certain set of skills, that to make those recommendations and you talked a little bit about talking to family to help set you up to remind you of things or to be compassionate about what you're experiencing. But putting your project manager hat on, you started to when you said make sure you have those numbers and lists available. But is there anything else you would suggest on time management? Or, you know, from that lens?
16:15
Oh, yeah, I mean, that could be a whole other podcast. But I think some of the biggest things is making sure that you can you're doing yourself a service by being organized from the very beginning, some of those things that I would would suggest would be creating a folder system. So that you know, where all of your assignments are going to be saved, that you're using that. That very common way of labeling your assignment with your name and the course code and the week, you know, ncu makes that pretty clear that that's the preferred way to save it.
But making sure that you're saving things in a file structure within your computer, or an online drive like office 365, or one note, you know, as an organizational tool, but and then working with whatever calendar tool is going to be best for you, whether that's on your phone, in your email, or it's some app that you have on your phone that helps you with reminders, but if you have noticed about yourself in the past that keeping things on track and setting reminders would be beneficial to you do it, it's worth it to, to have those things set up for yourself.
17:32
Anything that you can do to help yourself stay accountable, because like I said, you are going to notice that your course goes away when you shut your laptop, and anything you can do to help keep it Top of Mind that you've got to come back. You've got to make this a priority. Those are going to be the things that you you definitely should integrate into your your daily if not weekly life.
17:57
That is that's great advice that that's definitely great advice, as well as for virtual teaching. I set my alarms, I even set my alarm if I know I have a meeting coming up later that day. So it goes off so that I'll stop what I'm doing. Because sometimes I'll ignore that regular calendar alarm so I'll do a double a double alarm.
18:18
That's really helpful. It's definitely saved me at times. Okay, great. Well, it's been so fabulous talking with you, Miranda, I am just so privileged that I had this opportunity to have you on desk. Thank you so much. Yeah, anytime love chatting with you, Amy.
18:37
Thanks for joining us on best. This is Dr. Amy Lin. Remember, learning is right at your fingertips.