At our online school, student information is not given to the instructor. We have only the students name, gender, time zone and email address. Any other information is considered unnecessary to the instrucvtor. Therefore we can not initiate telephone calls to students. An instructor can give out a personal cell phone or home phone number if they choose but they can not call a student unless the student sends an email with their phone number and requests a call.
This has proven very difficult in some cases. Giving out a home or cell phone number can be very hard on family life as online students tend to think their instructors should be available 24/7. I received a phone call at 3 in the morning from a student who was surprized to here I was asleep and even after being told it was the middle of the night, she felt I should still answer her question.
In an online environment I prefer to keep everything in an online format and only talk to students by phone when it is requested by a student for a specific issue. Even then I set an appointment for the day and time and I call them.
Dale and Chris,
Thanks for continuing the conversation. Students do need more than just a grade. More feedback is needed to explain how the grade was determined. That's where rubrics help. Thanks1
Christopher,
Reducing stress is important. If it takes a phone call, it is totally worth it. Tanks for your input.
Chris,
I agree. I think that for a lot of students in the online enviornment, the grade book feedback vcan be hard for them. Especially when the grade is not good. Having follow up discussion on the phone often makes them feel better.
