I find there is a very thin line between being taken advantage of and giving a student the benefit of the doubt...when my students come to me with excuses. Accepting late work, with attached excuses, really pulls on my emotions because I want to believe my students are being honest with me and that I am being a benevolent person by taking the work (minus points for being late)...but it gets very tiring when it's one student after another. And, it's more work for me, keeping things organized and getting everything graded. With technology, now days, I am even starting to question if the Doctors' notes are real/legit or if they were created in PhotoShop! I am a fairly new instructor, on-campus as well as online, does anyone have advise or "words of wisdom"?

It is important to assimulate with your students - find out their likes, dislikes, etc - especially when teaching age-ranged students - it builds rapport and allows for students to feel comfortable with the instructor / fellow students for help and encouragement.

Why do some students fail classes 2-3 times in the same class? What are some ways to improve their passing rate the first time?

What are some of the best ways to hide instructor mistakes? For example - wrong answers, not knowing the answers, incorrect student names, etc?

Understanding that you must be consistent with your follow up on their assignments, i believe that you should be consistent with all your syllabus content/

Is teaching online more stressful than face to face or traditional classroom instruction? I just talked with a few other online faculty members this morning and all seem to want to say "Yes" Are we in group-think and teaching has become more stressful because of technology and other pressuures.

I work full and part time at a couple of universities. Is teaching online more time consuming and stressful than traditional classroom teaching? It feels that way to me. What do you think?

What grading and editing software are other people using? I use StyleWriter to aid me in marking editing and grammar errors on papers. This seems to save a lot of time. What other good tools are out there?

I haven't had a problem before with students cheating on tests. Usually I build a connection with the students and motivate them to want to do well in class. They usually end up not wanting to disappoint me. I also walk around the classroom to let them know that I genuinely care about their futures. I believe I am successful with that. However, cheating via plaigerism is another thing. One of the assignments in my class is a research paper. Students must paraphrase or use quotes from their resource materials. However, every now and again I will get a student who plaigerizes directly from internet sources (and they are so easy to find). Then they act as if they don't care or did it on purpose due to lack of time. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to deal with this situation? Or has anyone had this experience, as well.

Stress has been a big factor in my life. In fact it has caused serious medical health problems for me. I had to change careers to resolve many of my problems and my health has improved. Exercise is great. Sometimes just getting some fresh air. Give it a try.

I must say I disagree strongly with the suggestion that students should underline the "important parts" of their essay answers. Frankly, were I a student faced with this requirement, I'd underline the entire thing, and feel the prof was being insulting. If I didn't think a given bit of information was important, I wouldn't have included it in my essay. That's not to say it's not ok for profs to skim from time to time -- I do -- but I really don't think that's a message we should be sending to our students.

What are some best practices for to do lists and other time management techniques for online faculty?

if Syllabus states that a late assignment will be accepted up to one week , each day the assignment is late there will be a 20% deductions of points. my question is ? what if the student have a problem with the lenguage acomplishing the assignment?

Hi - I teach an online course where there are no tests - everything is either an online discussion or a written project (school's requirement, not mine). These are usually pretty complicated and in depth. The problem is that they take a VERY LONG time to grade and the grades are due within three days, in part because the writing skills of the students are often very poor and they are unable to communicate their thoughts effectively. How can I make the grading process less time consuming?

I am quite embarassed to say that I find one of my students annoying. I noticed myself avoiding interactions with her because I am afraid that I will be short with her. I am struggling with how to remedy this situation and would love some feedback!

Is there a way to then encourage the quiet ones to share? For example, if I were to give out 4 blue cards and 1 yellow, blues are optional but yellows are mandatory? This way, everyone will contribute at least once per class period. Is there a smoother way to do something like this? I have a few outspoken students mixed in with more timid students and I would like them all to participate in each class.

What is the best way to get your student to be more outspoken, knowing that he/she has to work with the public and speak much louder?

I find that taking my students on field trips that involve their related studies really puts everything in more perspective and gets them motivated more.

Hello Everyone, My desk is in the midst of a busy area between our student cafe and restaurant areas. Even if I come in early, I can't get my work done because I'm constantly interrupted by people walking through and wanting to talk or gossip. I hate to be rude, but even a pleasant "I'm really pressed to complete something important right now--can we schedule some time for later?" gets met with rolling eyes, or they just stand there waiting for me to wear down. I'm not talking about students who have an urgent need--I mean faculty who are bored between classes, administration that thinks their free time is my free time, etc. Any suggestions?

Hi Everyone Do you keep announcements and update them for future courses online to save time? What are other things you do to save time online? Thanks Alana