The Minimum Amount of Teacher Participation
Hello
As I mentioned earlier in my response that as an instructor it is easy for the facilitator to take a backseat or misunderstand the importance of instructor involvement when it comes to the discussion boards. I made that mistake in my early years of teaching online. I mistakenly assumed that the discussion board was solely for student interaction and that I really had no place interfering or getting involved. What I found was that my students were adopting the same the same philosophy and were posting weak or short comments and only reaching the minimum requirements each week.
Since that rough start I have found that the greater the presence of the instructor in the discussion area each week the more participation I get from the students (well a good percentage at least). I have made it a rule that I will post a minimum of 8 to 10 postings a week. This includes my own personal thoughts on the subject matter as well as my own responses to student comments. I now find that some students will also reach that number as well and I find a great number respond to my comments as well.
It’s really easy when you think about it. Every morning after coffee (it has to be after coffee) I go to my computer and post a comment and one or two responses and I am finished. The students interpret this as a huge effort on my behalf.
Bill Becker
William,
As you mention it is vital in an online course for students to see instructor "presence" in the course. It is also important to provide them with a model by which they can understand what they are to do. Just your posting to the forums in a proper way becomes the "model" then need to do it correctly. The more you interact with then and post, the more they will feel your presence.
Herbert Brown III
William,
As you mention it is vital in an online course for students to see instructor "presence" in the course. It is also important to provide them with a model by which they can understand what they are to do. Just your posting to the forums in a proper way becomes the "model" then need to do it correctly. The more you interact with then and post, the more they will feel your presence.
Herbert Brown III
I agree Bill and just shared this in another post. I believe online it is very important to model the behavior we expect from our students. If the student sees we are not actively conversing in the discussion boards, they will likely follow our lead.
However, in the same token, we must be sure to use open ended questions and not always fully respond to a question asked. Not to be unhelpful but to ensure we have our students use their critical thinking skills and create a dialogue.
I believe it is our job to help the conversation along, not be the "final answer". What do you think?
Karen,
I agree. Guiding them to the answer will ensure they actually know and understand the material. Telling them the answer just gives them an opportunity to memorize someone else's thoughts and repeat them later.
Herbert Brown III
In a math class discussion, giving the correct answer or correcting an incorrect answer will end the discussion. Letting mistakes go uncorrected will lead to misinformation. What should one do to keep the discussion going without allowing mistakes?
Carl,
Where possible I would suggest you guide the students from the incorrect to the correct. In simpler math problems this might not be possible or might be harder, but with more complex problems directly students back to the concepts, ask them to review a specific part of the concept and reapply it to the problem - guiding them without giving them the answer. It seems live face to face (video conf.) session would be more important in this environment where you can talk students through the through process like you may do in a traditional classroom.
Herbert Brown III
Herbert,
In my school the students are supposed to comment on incorrect work as part of their discussion grade. If I comment on incorrect work then the student participation and participation grade will be low and defeat the purpose of the discussion. Without changing the discussion rules for grading, I don't see how to participate without stifling student participation. Do you?
Carl
Carl,
Not if your school rules determine your allowed responses.
Herbert Brown III
I agree -- in fact, I made the same mistake when I started.
Over time, I have developed several generic posts containing my personal thoughts. Since I tend to teach the same courses again and again, canning the basic comments allows me more time to personalize other comments.
I am taking this "Online Teaching Techniques" course because I will have soon online classes myself mixing with the traditional classroom setup. I spent a lot of time reading through different topics to get some useful information and advise how to do this right from the beginning. I think your technique is really good, I will follow your "rule" to try to avoid the rough start. Thanks for sharing your experience.
