One area that needs to be covered move in the student training is Substantive Feedback as many post I like, good job, and simple I agree comments in many 101 courses.

What is any ability do students have within the MLS to hold real time chats with the group?

Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well. I have really enjoyed this course! I wanted to discuss the topic of student conflicts. I feel it is something that needs to be addressed by the faculty member as soon as it is discovered. Delays can create more disruption by other students taking sides in the conflict and soon learning stops and chaos ensues! Developing and requiring students to acknowledge a classroom Netiquette policy helps avoid issues. I tell my students we can disagree, but there is never a cause to be disagreeable in the classroom. Most of the colleges I teach for have their own version of a netiquette policy, so I always adhere to the posted rules. I ask students to read and acknowledge this policy via email. I ask them if they have any questions, to please let me know and if they encounter any bullying type of behavior to let me know immediately. In my Faculty Expectations section I clearly state that I have a zero tolerance policy for any bullying type of behavior. I've not had but a handful of issues in the 4 years I have been teaching online courses. I think a proactive approach, nipping infractions in the bud quickly, and a clearly stated policy helps to keep the classroom running smoothly without conflicts. Thank you! Dr. Angela Thomas

My courses meet in an online environment where we do web conferences once a week. The students can use chat, video, and audio to interact with me. The students prefer to use chat instead of the audio/ video set-up. What would you recommend to get the students more involved? Right now they only really use their chat box, but for me I really want them to participate orally and visually to break up the course and make it less teacher centered.

My courses meet in an online environment where we do web conferences once a week. The students can use chat, video, and audio to interact with me. The students prefer to use chat instead of the audio/ video set-up. What would you recommend to get the students more involved? Right now they only really use their chat box, but for me I really want them to participate orally and visually to break up the course and make it less teacher centered.

In general do students learn more in online or on-campus classes?? I have been teaching online classes for over 12 years and on-campus classes for over 30 years. I believe students learn more and retain information best in a full term 16-week on-campus class. Thanks Fred K

What is your policy on discussion thread. I like to see students post at least three different days. I like the initial post to be at least 100 words. I require references in their main post. I like to see the responses at least 5 sentences. Thanks Fred K

It is my policy to answer all emails within 24 hours. I usually access my emails twice a day, one in the morning and once in the evening. Also it is my policy to post at least 1 discussion post per day. I try to post at least 10% of all students posts. Asking questions to students give me a presence in the classroom. Thanks Fred K

Class I post a course expectation announcement. This includes my name, email address and office hours. Also I include my cell number, resolving technical issues, course overview, chat sessions, assignments info, discussion board, group projects, late policy, grading, and plagiarism. In addition I include the top ten reasons for success. Course exp[actions is a good way to understand policies and procedures. Thanks Fred K

Hi all, One thing that I find handy, and I wonder if other instructors do it, is to re-use feedback. And by that I don't mean giving the exact same feedback to each student, but by having a general format for each week. For example, I will have feedback that is ready to be personalized. One assignment my students do to help them get used to writing paragraphs is to write two paragraphs about music they like. My feedback includes a comment that tells them that their work is interesting, comments on whether I know the musician or will check them out in the future, and then some general comments on the work (e.g. "clear organization!" or "you seemed to struggle with organization" and "your paragraphs were a bit too short" or "you provided plenty of evidence in your paragraphs"), and then I also provide feedback in the paper itself, showing them where they've made errors or have strong topic sentences, etc. Do others instructors also use this type of "canned" feedback? Thanks, Kate

Learner 1, in my past experiences, when I have felt overwhelmed, I usually take a mental break for a couple of hours to a full day and do the one thing I love to do. Once I have a clear mind, go back into the course and write down your assignments. put a date that you will complete the assignment. Remember you have 7 days to work with, not just the weekend. Space out things like reading and discussion post into the work week and maybe your assignments on Saturday morning. Seek a quiet time when the house is at its quietest. You will be sucessful, just take it one step at a time. I would use this method to give the student a template to get organized. Once they are organized the fear of not getting it done whould minimized.

I have to disagree. The responsibilities, whether teaching a residential or online course, should be the same... which is to ensure that the students achieve the learning outcomes of the course. Although the responsibilities are the same, the method of teaching is different. Even the skills needed for an online instructor versus a residential instructor are different. In a traditional classroom setting, teachers have the immediacy of face-to-face interaction with students. In an online course, however, that face-to-face interaction is not there. Even if the online class is synchronous, that face-to-face interaction becomes very different. In a traditional classroom, an instructor may never have to write an email. On the other hand, on online instructor will have to be an expert in communicating via email.

I would first thank him for his opinion, but would strongly encourage him to make every effort to answer the discussion questions, read other students' posts, and comment on them. I would let him know that by doing so, he will better understand why these discussion questions are relevant. If, after he has fully participated in the discussions and still feels the questions are not relevant, I would ask him to provide what he thinks may be better discussion questions and why.

Hi. Dr Vaillancourt, Below are my responses to each scenario: Scenario 1: I would provide constructive criticism to Mike> I would describe where he did excellent vs. where he fell short. I would also make some suggestions on improvement. Scenario 2: In Kathy's feedback, I would ask if she understood the assignment and offer tutoring assistance. I would also make positive and negative constructive criticism on her assignments.

Disagree. First, they get the grades and the comments in the grade book. Then, midweek, they get the summary showing that they are below passing and they are told what they need to complete. At this point, all but those who are sick, or having some large personal problem happening in their lives, respond. Second, once they respond, usually email, but sometimes texting, I answer their question of what they need to do; they usually need to just complete the work assigned which they have not completed. I tell them, clearly, that here are the assignments and the points involved, and the possible change in grade upward possible if they complete the assignments. Most then turn them in. I clearly point out to them that 45% of the grade is posting and replying to the Discussion Board, which are the easiest points of all, compared to quizzes and assignments. I point out that the assignments and quiz questions are all clearly covered in the live chats with similar questions and problems so it is to their advantage to watch the archived chats or come to the live chats. Third, if they say they need help and don't understand anything, I suggest tutoring and ask them directly if they have tried to do the work. When they say "yes", I ask them which problem did they get stuck on, tell me the steps they took and which step caused the problem? If they stop responding, I repeat the question and copy their advisor, saying that perhaps the advisor can point them to how to use the tutor and work on the material. Fourth, if they respond in detail, I carry on a dialog, via email, with them about getting past the troublesome step in the solution. At this point, these students usually get moving and either get tutoring and/or help from various sources. I also tell all about some websites that might help, tell them to Google key words of the problem to find how others on the web solved similar problems, etc. There are two classes of students; those that need motivation and a push and some help, and those that for whatever reason, don't respond. The approach I take to get at and help the first class is; 1. Explain the points/grades and their paying for tuition or costs. This motivates all but a few. 2. Move students towards tutoring or outside help if they don't have specific questions. 3. Help those left who are responding and can be helped in this synchronous individual exchange of emails. 4. Unfortunately, there are always some who don't respond at all, and they either flunk, drop out or eventually request an Incomplete. All of these students have been reported several times to their advisor, and that person also tries to help with problems by giving support, motivation or advice.

I agree. That is one of my greatest challenges too. Many learners post the minimum requirement and what's worse, they don't bother to come back. So even if you, as the instructor, have posted the most dynamic or most interesting follow-up question or additional information, that student will never read it. One of my roles is to facilitate and guide the discussions. If students are already engaged with each other in the discussions, I minimize my participation. If discussions start off slow or stall, I expand on the topic or ask a follow-up question. Sometimes, I would break up the discussion topic into parts or reword it differently altogether. I also provide a grading rubric so that my students know what I'm looking for in the threads.

I don't think it will ever totally replace traditional classroom delivery. I think it may offer opportunities for students that otherwise may not have the learning opportunity. I do think it is becoming more traditional because of those who are returning to school and enjoy the flexible schedule. I do think that it's going to take a change in the minds of people to accept online degrees along with those of the brick and mortar colleges and universities.

It will definitely be a big challenge, for both the online instructor and the online student. It will be even more of a challenge if your students have never taken online classes before. I think the biggest challenge as an instructor is in getting my students to be comfortable with the online modality. They must get used to the idea that the "instructor/student interaction" is going to be very different. Interaction will radically change from a "face-to-face" modality to interaction via email, threaded discussions, phone calls, etc. Getting used to this kind of interaction (and taking it seriously) may take a bit of getting used to.

In the online courses I have taught the class usually consists of 35 students in the beginning. Usually that drops to about 25 by the time the course actually gets started. By the end of the course there are about 15 that have maintained the requirements of the course. I think I would have been all right with the 35. I think as long as the instructor can efficiently work with the students and respond and be available then the ratio can work.

One important element is to request that students be vigilant about checking for announcements pertaining to the next class session. I ask them to check 48 hours before the class session, to see if any items have been added, deleted, or adjusted from the course syllabus. Often, due to holidays and the pace of a particular class, the course syllabus is modified throughout the term... by checking on announcements the class participants can keep pace and avoid feeling like the instructor has "surprised them" by adding or deleting class content.