April 9, 2015
Description Many faculty members begin their online courses by contacting students in advance of the course start date or during the first week of classes with an introductory email message (Bellafiore, 2007; Gibson & Blackwell, 2005; Mensch & Ali, 2007). The purpose of this communication is to welcome the students, establish a comfortable class environment,…
April 6, 2015
In the United States, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), also known as the Buckley Amendment, is seen as relevant in that if students in the public web space are required to identify themselves and their affiliation with a particular institution and course, then this requirement could be seen as violating FERPA.
April 6, 2015
Description While students may express a desire for more student-centered collaboration in the discussions, they may not fully understand the responsibility required to achieve it (Kanuka et al., 2007). Along with a thoughtful discussion prompt, facilitation during the discussion is often necessary to support students to engage in critical discourse (DeSmet et al., 2008; Maurino…
April 6, 2015
Description Intervening with Students It is important to contact students when their observed behaviors within the course indicate cause for concern (e.g., disengaged or at-risk of not succeeding). In addition to the obvious behavior of not submitting assignments, checking the Learning Management System’s (LMS) “Student Tracking” tool frequently (sorting by last access) allows the instructor…