Helping students understand the CoP is crucial in an online environment. The first step is to reiterate the social conduct associated with building community within the course.
Explain to the students it is okay to express their opinions yet they must be mindful to also respect the opinions of others and learn to agree to disagree. This process includes expressing thoughts in a non offensive manner and being open to other perspectives.
I believe that the process of creating good online citizens starts with setting clear expectations early and referring back to them often when assessing student process. Part of these expectations should include the student seeking assistance and guidance if they are not clear on what is expected of them.
@kellywilkinson : Hi Kelly, at the beginning of a course, I post an announcement explaining professionalism and the expectations for the class. I also provide an explaination of plagirism and an example on how to cite. Luckily the school where I teach offer a writing lab for student to help with their writing skills. There have been times where a student plagiarized their work and I have to reach out to them. Of course they denied it but after I provided an example of their work and an example from the website, the wording was exactly the same. If thise cases, I do allow student to redo their work (I edit their grade but they can not make above a 'C") but if the same student Plagirizes a second time, I have to report them to the school. The first attempt puts them (the student and school) on notice but the second attempt can result in dismissal from the school.
Students are expected to participate in weekly discussion on different topics. The guidelines for responding to the discussion topics are explined in the course syllabus and I reiterate what the expectiations are in my welcome announcement the first week of class. I encourage students to proofread their work and ask that they elaborate and be respectful when replying to classmates posts. The concept of plagiarism is also explained in the announcements and in my welcome email. Any student that plagiarize is educated on how to avoid being in that perdicament, initially, and avised that plagiarsim can lead to expulsion from school.
