Everyone offered great insights and observations! I have also been teaching online for over 10 years and have had generally poor chat attendance. As a collegaue above mentioned, those that do attend benefit and enjoy the time they choose to invest in the chat. However, the first issue, is getting them to attend - ONCE! Here is my thinking on the poor attendance:
1) Students feel as though they are in an online class, so they are not aware or familiar with a synchronous opportunity.
2) They may feel emabrrassed or afraid to participate (via voice or text) because of their skill or comfort level in these areas.
3) They purposely chose an online learing option to avoid interaction with the instructor or other students.
4) In effort to expedite their course completion, they do not want to take the time to listen. They will (typically) just attempt the assignments and then go back and use the resources.
5) They may not have the ability to set aside time to listen given their life restrictions (i.e. kids, work schedule, computer access, etc.).
I also agree with another colleague as stated above, that attendance should be mandatory for at least the first few semesters (1 - 3 depending on semester length) and for those who fall below SAP standards or other school-imposed performance guidelines. In more advanced courses, it could be considered optional. NOTE: I personally completed some post graduate work online at a top 10 university and class attendance was mandatory. Not only did you WANT the intereaction for questions, you benefitted from the questions and lectures to the class as a whole - just like a traditional classroom. Therefore, I would suggest that many traditional options should be implemented as we continue to evolve the online realm of learning.
