In my position, I don't have many opportunities to see the end product of courses. I work with instructors to design online courses so any opportunity to gain student feedback is limited. However, I recently had the opportunity to observe an online course that is currently being taught. I was quickly able to gain empathy with the learners by a number of ways.
Always the Student
When I first accessed the course, I went through the assignments and content as I would if I were a student. I gained first hand knowledge of the learning environment this way. I made a list of any confusing elements I saw so that I could reference those if brought up by any student.
Fly on the Wall
I observed the interactions between the students and the instructor.
Feedback
I saw that many students had left feedback in the course Q&A. I asked questions regarding whether those concerns had been addressed.
This was a unique experience for me. Though the experience of the learner is always in the back of my mind, I typically work with instructors and they are the ones who I first gain empathy with. It's a juggling act at times; you want to please your client, however, the learner experience is ultimately the goal in this process. Being able to see student feedback in this live course really reminded me of this.
