For the last two weeks I have been conferencing with my students. It means that outside of class time, I meet one-on-one with each of my students for at least a half hour to discuss their written assignments.

This isn’t unusual. Teachers have been doing it for years, but I am currently teaching three mixed-delivery classes and two online classes, so technology has put a twist to the conference.

For instance, if I want to (not saying that I am), I can conference with my students while wearing my pajamas. My students would never know because the conference is taking place online.

The benefit of an online conference? I would have to say the biggest thing is that my comments on their paper are legible, which is something I can’t say when I end up writing comments in the margin of nearly 100 papers. My comments are also more helpful because I don’t just say, “this is a run-on.” I also give the student a link to a web page that will help the student figure out why it is a run-on and how to fix it.

It has been a great way for me to connect with my online students and make the online class a bit more personal. Sometimes it is just nice to put a voice and not just an impersonal computer to learning.

This is the first time I’ve tried the online conferencing. I even have students sign up for the conference using an online scheduling system. That system is wonderful. It sends an email confirmation to both myself and the student. On the day of the conference, it even sends the student a meeting reminder. The online scheduling program I use is at www.scheduleonce.com.

I have learned a few things that I will need to do next time to improve my online conferencing experience. I realized that I need to have the conferences at home end before 4 p.m. This is because this is when my children arrive home, and they come into the house being VERY loud.

I also need to make sure that I schedule in time for a lunch. One day last week, I mistakenly made all of my time from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. available. Students filled every single minute of it. I left myself no time to get food or go to the bathroom. I was able to squeeze both in, but it wasn’t easy.

For the actual conference, I have students meet me in an online room, which they access with a URL that I provide. Once a student has arrived, I make my computer’s desktop visible. The student can then see their paper on my computer screen.

I have the student call me on the phone, and we talk about their paper as I review it and make comments. When the conference is over, I upload the paper to allow the student to access my comments, and I record the grade.

This method allows me to make sure that students really do hear the comments I make about their paper. In the past, I know that some students receive my feedback and never even read it. But since the students are right there as I comment, they get to hear all of my comments and many times realize the problem before I can even say anything.

Another benefit to the conferences? I get my grading done so much faster. If I were left to my own devices, I would not yet have all of the papers graded. But because of the conferencing, I am right on schedule.