Disruptions
I often see students who procrastinate in discussions and quickly lead the class off the topic of discussion. Chris
Michael,
Thank you for sharing this advice with us. Dealing with such student behavior is always a challenge and the more approaches we are knowledgeable about the more ways we can refocus such students and keep the class moving forward.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think we all see such behavior on a regular basis, Chris.
In my experience, many of the apparent procrastinators are actually in need of simple reminders to keep on top of deadlines. You may be a learner, like many instructors, who never needed such reminders and find it silly to have to remind adults of the responsibilities in a university environment. I truth, I resisted posting reminders for a while because I felt it encouraged irresponsibility. That said, at the end of the day, I would rather see the student succeed as they are getting their feet wet in the e-learning environment than quit due to frustration caused by oversights.
As to the off-topic posters, I simply refer them to previously created and posted documents that describe discussion expectations. Usually, a personal message that lets them know they are off track in a non-confrontational way can be quite effective.
~Michael
