Get Your Students Hired
I have found that topics regarding issues of diversity can sometimes become more heated in the online environment than in a traditional classroom setting as students cannot discuss these issues face to face taking into consideration body language, etc. What suggestions are there to encourage and support diversity in the on-line classroom?
One great thing about on-line education is that people are anonymous and shy students can find a voice. Heated discussions are more common all around the internet. I've been called names that no one would use in polite company, just for voicing an alternative viewpoint on some political websites. But for online learning environments, you need to set some ground rules in case "heated" becomes _rude_.
Cathy,
I teach a Religions of the World class. In this class, one of the religions covered is Christianity, and another is Islam. I have seen very vocal and very heated discussions in my online classroom over these topics. I encourage my students to support their views with established facts, not emotions. When I find this is not being done, I step in with the facts necessary to calm the waters, so to speak. From that point, students usually continue discussions in a more intellectual and less emotional manner.
I also remind them that the class is about discussion, and not conversion. This seems to help the students feel at ease in the discussion as well.