Michael White: Building Quality Relationships with Online Students

Although an online course may give the impression of receiving an impersonal education, Michael White, assistant professor in the Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Program at California State University, Dominguez Hills, would disagree.

White was skeptical at first, he had never taught or taken a class online before. “I didn’t imagine you could develop a relationship online,” White explains, “but what I found…is that individual personalities come out very quickly. Unique relationships seem to develop with each of the students and it turns out that it can be a very one-on-one experience.”

White acknowledges there are differences in the relationships he builds with students on campus as compared to those online, but he indicates, “the fascinating thing about online work is that unlike in a classroom, there’s no place to hide, everybody has to participate. So it’s the participation and the engagement in the active learning process that is so interesting.”

There are variations in the quality of the communication taking place among students as well. Due to time constraints, discussions in class may lack the depth and thought those taught online may have.

White emphasizes the importance of communication for success. “The research would indicate…that what’s more predictive of success in college is the relationship between the student and teacher and quality of the relationships between the students.”

White explains there are multiple ways to communicate with online students. He uses Blackboard, the online class management CSU Dominguez Hills faculty use for on-campus classes as well, to post assignments, documentation and even lectures for his online courses. Online classes can also communicate through chat rooms, conference calls, and video.

“One of my colleagues has real-time sessions where we can use the studio and be live as well as archived and have students writing in their questions and responding on camera in real-time,” White adds.

Online courses are also conservational. “I’m functioning almost in a paperless environment because work is submitted online, I grade it online, I enter their grades and it’s reflected both on my computer and in theirs. I never have to see a piece of paper, which I didn’t think would be possible.”

Previously, the NCRP Program offered only a certificate and master’s curriculum. Beginning this year, the program offers an undergraduate curriculum as well.

The instructors in the NCRP Program are attempting to “teach people how to become good mediators to become good negotiators,” White says, “and to work on programs of peacebuilding whether it’s locally or internationally.”

“This program needs to become better known because we really have an opportunity to provide some wonderful opportunities for people, not necessarily only as mediators. It’s a wonderful opportunity for people in the business world to learn skills, to learn how to understand what conflicts in the community are about, to learn the analytical skills of communications in conflict and reaching a balance and principle resolution of conflict.”

The NCRP Program at Dominguez Hills differs from those at other universities. “Most programs like this are connected with law schools and that puts a certain flavor on the orientation,” White explains. Although there are four lawyers on staff, including him, having an independent program allows for a more open approach.

Throughout White’s career as a lawyer he has been involved in teaching, most recently at Pierce College in Southern California teaching civil rights courses.

White joined the NCRP Program at Dominguez Hills in fall 2007 because of the description of the available position. “It was the sort of position that if I could write my own description of what I’d want to be doing with my life that would be it,” he says. “I just feel like teaching mediation and peacebuilding work is something that I have always felt connected to.”

Currently, White is teaching four classes, two of which are online.

While White has stopped his practice in law since becoming a teacher at Dominguez Hills, he continues to do mediation work through his private practice. White attended law school at the University of California, Los Angeles and received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma.

For more information on the NCRP Program, click here.

-Heather Roach