Robin Cobbey

In F2F classroom situations, interaction between the students is much easier than it is online. Getting students to fully participate in group projects or discussions can take a lot of prodding. What techniques or actions can be taken to promote interaction?

It's important to look at assessment as evaluation and not simply assigning a grade. This is why grade feedback is so important. I get comments from students all the time that thank me for the feedback on their assignments as this is how they learn. I've also found that when there is good feedback students are less likely to complain about their grade. Has anyone else had this experience?

One of the issues that I encounter in every online class is getting students motivated to engage in the asynchronous environment. This would certainly cut down on late assignments and help to increase discussion and participation in the forums and on the boards. What techniques have you used to motivate students? What seems to be most successful?

I teach a research methods course, SPSS. I've found that synchronous demonstrations of how to set up and do an analysis in SPSS is the most effective method because students can ask questions and let you know if they are understanding. However, this is not always possible so a screen capture demonstration would be a good way to provide an illustration on a number of different types of analyses. I'd be interested in hearing how others have used screen capture and if there are any tutorials on setting one up.