Online Participation
To get our student to participate we setup guidelines for when the discussions have to be turn end. The original post have to be posted by Wednesday midnight. To get full credit they have to reply to at less two of their classmates by Sunday midnight. This help us with the student participation.
Mary,
Is midnight a "rule" set by our institution? Just wondering. The guidelines you set for students when posting on the discussion board are essential. How you grade their posts? Thanks!
Deadlines for online participation should be a requirement as deadlines for any course. Distant learning is no different. I think that this requirement is even more important to consider for distant learning, as in general the period of the course is much shorter than face-to- face courses. Aside, in part to completing assignments timely submission is often a routine consideration to earn the most points possible. Grammar should also be a consideration as improperly formatted sentences decreases communication that is required within any academic setting, whether online or in person.
Sean ,
Deadlines helps keep online learners on track. If we tell students there are no deadlines, we can't continue a conversation in a timely manner. Thanks!
I know that we have to have end dates - in order to accomplish grading and all that good stuff - but do you think there has to be a due date? What does that accomplish? IN a face to face setting we would be able to rediscuss topics as often as necessary until the objective has been met, yet in online modality, we end a topic for the week and move on.
I sometimes extend grading to cover those late posters- Sometimes we learn a lot from them as well.
Kim
Kimberly,
The first online course I taught, I had NO due dates. What happened was that over 90% of the students waited to the last 2-3 weeks of the class to "cram it all in." I don't think they learned as much as they didn't have time to process the information and reflect on their learning. Thanks.
Mary,
I have been teaching online now for the past 5 years for 7 different online schools, and lack of participation is the biggest problem. Some schools want faculty to do all kind of outreach calling and e-mailing students, but I have found that it simply does not work in practice. If the participation problem would get fixed, the retention problem would be fixed along with it.
Sincerely,
Vince
Vince and Mary,
Thanks for continuing the conversation. Keep your ideas coming!
