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>> My name is Dennis Gouran, I'm professor of communication arts
and sciences, and labor studies and employment relations
at the Pennsylvania State University.
When I think about core competencies
that would be helpful in assuring
that one delivers world campus courses successfully,
the one that most immediately comes to mind is, it's difficult
to express this in the language of competencies,
but a kind of commitment to turnaround.
The students I've had in the three courses that I teach
for the world campus have more than, for any other attribute
that I might have displayed, commented positively
on the immediacy with which they receive feedback
on their lessons.
And I think this is consistent with what we know
from the psychology of learning, that contiguity between stimulus
and response is a determinate of the strength of response.
So if you want students to profit from your feedback,
the sooner that they receive it, the more likely it is
to have the intended effect.
So I view that as a very important attribute,
if not competency, for success in online learning courses.
I think it's also important to manifest a kind of tolerance
for disagreement, because at least in my courses,
I deal with a high proportion of non-traditional students
who are accustomed when they are dissatisfied with something
in their lives to express that dissatisfaction,
and grades on lessons are no exception.
It would be very easy to become defensive,
and hide behind the technology in so doing.
But I think to treat students' concerns seriously,
and to address those concerns in as non-defensive a way
as possible is an extremely important communication
competency that a person who wants to do this kind of work
for very long is going to have to develop, or at least want
to make every effort to try to develop.