Guest Facilitator Satrohan Mangal

Tricia: You certainly have been successful in implementing effective strategies to establish and maintain relationships with your students as you "coach" them along. My observation and experience is that time taken to know my students can be significantly less in a classroom setting than in an online environment. Of course,it might take longer to "know" shy students in a classroom setting; however, I would make significant headway with the majority which would leave me more time to give more personalized attention to the "hard-to-know" students especially if I have to jump into an inquiry mode not characterized by face-to-face interaction.… >>>

Schawn: I agree with you that students can learn more in a face-to-face setting. I would just like to add this qualifier. Students, among other desirable traits, must be goal driven by strong motivation to acquire an education relevant to their ambition, career goals etc. More important they must possess the faculties to complete that journey. For example, they must be able to manage their time effectively, they must be able to practise self-discipline, they must overcome any inclination to procrastinate. All of these criteria are necessary for success in an online environment as well as in a traditional classroom… >>>

James: The asynchronous approach is bettr. And yes; a bio of the Guest Lecturer attesting to his or her authority in the content area is of added value. I want to suggest that in addition to posting the bio, you also post, at a reasonable time before you want students to begin questions, a transcript of what the Guest lecturer would have said had he or she been delivering the lecture in the classroom. Allow enough time for students to read, assimilate, process the information, and come up with intelligent questions before you initiate the Discussion session. The results you… >>>