AIN'T NOT WRITING GOOD!
The heading for this thread is meant to draw attention to a crucial problem found in all subject areas in many online courses: the inability of supervisors, web and course developers, and administrators to put together courses that read well – i.e., good English – and stocked with a logical, clear, and easy-to-access set of assignments, lectures, discussion boards, et al. Again and again students will wander through a course and discover poor grammar and punctuation, spelling and proofreading errors, and vague content; assignments that are missing components, are not easy to understand, or don’t seem to match the readings; and a course layout that is arbitrary, illogical, and / or difficult to access. In cases like this it makes no difference how qualified or enthusiastic or available is the instructor; the students can be quickly discouraged, confused, and inattentive by the powers that be when they do not put enough care into the overall reading, structure, and layout of the course.
Jason,
Great idea - Peer evaluation and feedback. If it is good enough for our students, it can certainly work for us as instructor too. Thanks for sharing.
Herbert Brown III
This is an issue others instuctors and myself have addressed by having each other take our courses before opening them to students. It is amazing the amount of changes we make based upon feedback from one another. Student satisfaction with content has significantly improved since we began this process.
Brian,
Do you find that the student just have poor grammar because they are in a hurry and don't take the time to write well, or are they using chat abbreviations, etc. and talk in chat-talk?
Herbert Brown III
I completely agree with you. I have gone to painful lengths to ensure that I have made efforts to use proper grammar and clear reasoning in my online courses.
I do this because I ask my students to do the same. One of the my biggest challenges is getting my students to write in an appropriate fashion. Even though I teach mathematics, I feel that this is especially important. I try to remind them that any employer will ask them to write in a professional manner.
BJS
Errol,
I would agree that poorly constructed courses can lead to student dissatifaction. So how do you ensure that this does not happen?
Herbert Brown III
