more on class message boards

Following up to this post:

Sleepycat asked if I get a lot of discussion on the boards when I ask them to discuss readings. It varies a lot with the readings; if they are especially compelling or provocative or if students are already invested in the topic, then there is usually some discussion. Other times, students seem to write their own posts and throw them up on the message boards without much effort to engage others. If they read the other posts, I can't tell because they are more concerned with just fulfilling their own assignment than with participating in a discussion. I think that's okay sometimes. The discussion prompt requires them to do some analysis and select a specific example, so they have still done some work in careful reading and critical thinking. Sometimes I let it rest at that. If I feel like the discussion has potential to be more useful and productive, I will sometimes forgo a new discussion and direct them back to the last discussion, which forces them to respond to their fellow students' ideas. That works well for that specific assignment, and it also encourages them to initiate discussions in the future. It takes some prodding, but usually not too much.

Literacy-chic asked how I give them instructions. In the hybrid class, I give some general instructions on the syllabus, and I also give oral instructions on the first day of class as a sort of introduction to how we'll use the message boards. Then I give them written instructions online for every single discussion. I remind them frequently that they should engage other students and that they must give specific examples, sometimes requiring quotes. I repeat myself A LOT, but many students have trouble following directions because they rely too much on their memory of what the assignment is rather than going back to the instructions and checking them. I don't talk about it in class meetings much because I want them to learn to take responsibility for reading and following instructions themselves, but I do give them lots of written reminders online. Giving instructions for each individual discussion also allows the assignment to "evolve" over the semester, as L-C mentioned in her comment. As long as the instructions are there for that specific discussion, the students can be expected to understand what is required of them, even if it is somewhat different from other discussions earlier in the semester.

I start every discussion with my own opening post. Here's one from this summer that went well:

In Lucy Grealy's essay "Masks," she comments, "My sister and her friends never had to worry about their appearance, or so it seemed to me, so why didn't they always feel as bold and happy as I felt that night?" (p. 43)

In your first paper, you will use an extended example of something that happened in your own life to comment on larger issues of identity and community, so you will need to make your experience relevant to others. With the statement above, Grealy shows how her unique situation created feelings that were relevant to people who did not have the same exceptional circumstances. People who have no facial deformity can still relate to her story on some level.

How do the authors of the essays you have read in chapters 1 and 2 of your textbook connect their particular topics to a larger audience? It may not be as explicit as Grealy's statement--it might be implied. Do you relate to the essays in any way? How and why? Choose one example to discuss in this forum. You may comment on the same essays--even the same specific passages--as other students have as long as you add to the discussion and don't just repeat what someone else has already said.

For this assignment I gave them an example to model what kind of responses I wanted, and I also told them how this discussion and the readings were relevant to the writing assignment they were working on and to their larger writing concerns. I think that students often feel that readings in a writing class are unnecessary extra work, so I try to help them understand why reading helps you become a better writer. I know they won't always get it, but I hope some do.

I'll get back to this topic later and address working in groups. Please keep commenting--I love exchanging teaching ideas.

communication in online classes

Warning--this is way too long. To summarize: I am thinking about how I might modify the way I use message boards in my hybrid class based on what I learned in my totally online class. If that is boring to you, stop now. If that sounds interesting in the least, you are just the person I want to hear from!

My summer online class was great. Students participated much more easily and productively online than in the fall. Part of that may be summer--students expect classes to be more intensive than in a regular semester. Another big difference is that this class was totally online instead of a hybrid class that meets in person. In the fall I teach the hybrid class again, so I'm looking at how to carry over the success from this summer, specifically in the message boards.

Students in the hybrid class don't participate as well in the message boards because they consider the face-to-face meetings more important. They don't seem interested in the online part because it's just "supplement," not "real" class. They just go through the motions. Some of the things I did differently in the summer session might help in the fall, though. I give extensive instructions for formal papers, but I wanted the students to take the lead in their discussions, so I tried to leave the instructions more open. I run my on-campus classes that way and I have been successful, but I think that students are less comfortable in the electronic format. While they are online all the time and they are certainly well-versed in electronically mediated conversation, the combination of online communication and class work is fairly new to them. So this time I gave them more specific topics for discussion along with a sample answer for each. In the beginning, they followed the model I offered closely but it didn't take long for them to start shaping the discussions themselves, which was the goal. I think my notion of student-led online discussions was a little too hands-off, and offering just a bit more instruction made a big difference. I think it's a confidence thing--they didn't know what I wanted so they were too cautious to do much of anything.

One challenge of the message boards is to have an actual discussion and not just a string of unrelated entries. I overtly encouraged discussion by suggesting that they take up examples that other students had already mentioned. Each post required an example to support their claim, but I stated in the initial post that they could use an example that another student had already brought up as long as they were adding to the discussion and not just repeating what had been said. That helped as much as any instructions do--it relies on the student to follow directions. I also went back a few times and instead of asking new questions, directed them to the previous thread and required new posts in that discussion. The second time around they did not bring up new examples but had to respond to what was there. That helped a lot, and I'll do it earlier next time. After the first time I did that, I noticed a change in the boards right away--they were more involved with their classmates and not just posting their piece and leaving.

One of my favorite assignments was a required discussion of works in progress. For each paper, I required them to post something--anything--about their papers and to post their theses. I also sent them back to that thread for a second round each time. Students who had no argument figured it out before the paper was due--big step!--and those who had been putting their work off had to get started earlier or they wouldn't have anything to say. I also responded to every post on the board. A few students told me that this open discussion of the writing process taught them better than any other assignments. Success!

I am thinking about a change for the fall, but I haven't made a decision yet. Last spring I held discussions of the readings during our on-campus meetings, not on the message boards. The purpose of the readings in this class are to analyze writing styles, structures, and techniques. I thought that was better done in class so that I could direct the discussion and point out passages and answer questions more efficiently. What happened was that they didn't read and just waited for me to tell them what was important--very little discussion and very little point in the end. In the summer I had them analyze the readings independently and write responses--which included quotes--in the message boards. That was a necessity because there were no on-campus meetings, but I think they ended up doing better. So now I'm considering focusing more on workshop-type activities during on-campus meetings and doing analysis of the readings online in the fall. No sure yet, but I do know my previous method needs to be tweaked (hopefully without the addition of quizzes. I hate giving quizzes.)

Okay--way too long. I'd love your thoughts, especially you online teachers.

summer class

Thanks for keeping up with me even though blogging has become sparse. Lots of life things are happening. And thank you for the great comments on my last post. I took your advice to heart while I was grading my first set of papers from the summer class.
This class is going quite well. The online discussion are great and the students are really interacting with each other. I thought that the online interaction would be better in the hybrid class last spring because they saw each other in person once a week, but actually the online interactions in this class are much better. I'm thinking about the possible reasons for that so I can keep improving my online classes. But I'll have to get to that later--baby is impatiently calling me.

grading not going so well

I'm moving through the papers just fine, but I am not pleased with what I am seeing. Students are missing the point of the assignment. And maybe being tired from caring for the baby has made me less patient or tolerant of errors that I see as results of carelessness, lack of effort, or unwillingness to ask questions. Despite childbirth, I have been constantly available to my students online and I have posted messages to remind them of that.

The biggest problem is that many of them have totally missed the point of the assignment and have submitted papers that are entirely descriptive and not analytical at all. No thesis to be found. This is their THIRD paper, so analysis and argument are not new concepts in the class. And we went over and over and over this assignment in our on-campus meetings and online. I was worried initially that I had not made the assignment clear, but some students have done exactly what was asked of them. Not just the brightest ones, either. When a lot of students get it wrong, I feel insecure about the way I have taught them--that is it my fault, not theirs. But I feel at this point like it is simply a result of not following directions. So as I've been marking their papers, I have cut and pasted excerpts from the paper prompt to show them, "Here's what you were supposed to do, and you didn't do it." That's the best I can do with it.

So what to do next semester to make it better? I am teaching the same class in the summer and again in the fall, and instead of revamping the class, I am going to try to improve on this model (I'm sort of attached to it, and I want it to be great, and I also have a lot of things to do besides searching for new textbooks and developing new a syllabus). In the fall, I am doing the hybrid on-campus/online class, but in the summer I am totally online. And that was not so fun when I taught Tech Writing, largely because of the whole following directions thing.

So here's an idea that I'm toying with: quizzes over paper prompts.
This idea feels a little juvenile to me and even potentially insulting to the students. When I was an undergraduate, I would have been pissed if the instructor had quizzed me on my ability to read instructions. But it would make (most of) them read the prompts that I have spent so much time developing. And maybe they would write the papers that I have assigned.

Another option that I will most likely use is required online discussions of the papers in progress. We had those this semester and they really paid off for some students. That method puts a lot more responsibility on the students to identify their problems and bring up the right questions and topics for discussion. It's not as efficient as a quiz. It only works for the ones who are willing to put the effort into participating--REALLY participating and not just going through the motions to get credit. Part of me says that those are the students I should prioritize, anyway. But another part of me really wants to figure out how to motivate the ones who don't care so much and don't want to put in so much effort. It's easy to nurture the great students. I also want to reach the students who don't want to be reached. The perpetual frustration of a teacher.

Teaching Web 2.0, part 2

(I know it's long, but I hope you'll still read it, especially if you're a writing teacher.)

As I mentioned in this post, I have chosen to analyze user-generated web content in my Advanced Composition class because most students are already personally invested in it and because it raises interesting issues about composition.

I have to keep the discussion of the latter part on the light side because I don't think they're entirely ready to deal with those issues in depth. Part of that is because, despite what the title of the class seems to indicate, this is a sophomore-level course. They are still dealing with a lot of writing issues that are covered in freshman composition, which many students never actually took because there are so many ways to get out of it. What I want them to do, mainly, is to expand their concept of writing to include composition on the web, with its fluidity and temporality and globality and hypertextuality and collaborativality (okay, so that's not a word--I got carried away). I want them to think about what they write online as writing.

The major obstacle to that is a continued attachment to paper. Now, I'm not saying that I don't like paper. Paper is fine. But there are all these new ways to write that don't quite feel as legitimate as paper. The traditional academic paper with its page counts and red pen grade marking. Anything else seems less serious, less academic. They (we, everybody) need to be able to take electronic texts seriously, as they read them and as they compose them. To that end, I'm conducting an almost paper-free class (with the exception of the textbook) to distance them from paper and force them to participate in electronic composition and communication for a grade (and doesn't that somehow make it real and legitimate--when it's for a grade?).

But I'm not doing anything especially revolutionary here. I think that I could have gone much farther, but I'm holding back. I'm still requiring the traditional academic papers that are in the familiar paper format. They are composed, submitted, peer reviewed, and graded entirely electronically--never printed out. But still, the electronic versions of the papers are just an imitation of the printed papers. They have the same visual format, the same page breaks, the same everything, just appearing as an image on the computer screen instead of in their hands. Even that much distance from paper is unsettling for some. In his course evaluation last semester, one student from Technical Writing, a totally web-based class, lamented the loss of the red pen on his graded papers. He felt like the electronic grademarking, which mimics the red pen, was not as effective.

I am keeping the traditional paper format this semester for several reasons. One is that I have an obligation to them to prepare them for academic writing that will be required of them in other classes. Even though they were supposed to learn the conventions of academic writing in freshman comp, I still feel like I would be misleading them if I attempted to change the way they conceive of academic writing when in reality the college papers that are assigned in every class are not much changed. Another reason is that they are comfortable with the traditional format, and they feel more like they understand what is expected of them. If I tried to turn their whole notion of writing upside-down, I think that they would be so distracted, and some of them upset, trying to figure out "what I'm looking for" in their writing projects that I would have to sacrifice a lot of the work that I want to do with them. I'm not sure that they would be better writers at the end of the class, and to make them better writers is my primary goal.

Also, I must admit, the traditional paper format is more comfortable to me because I know how to grade it. I know how to grade it because I have written many and they have been graded and I have modeled my grading on my experiences as a student. (This is the first time I've really connected grading with being a student, but isn't that how we learn how to grade? Certainly no one has ever taught me how to grade a paper.) When I assign innovative projects, I am frequently pleased with the results but also left with the problem of trying to assign grades for which I have no previous reference. I just don't know what to do with them.

So what I'm doing this semester is easing them into electronic, web-based composition for low-stakes assignments but still taking the biggest parts of their grades from traditional papers. I am asking them to analyze electronic communication and write papers about it, which I guess is another way of easing them into the thing. We are using "Web 2.0," or user-generated content, or whatever you want to call it, every day, but our foundation is still paper, even if that paper appears as an image on the screen. I think that I've made the right decisions for the class (actually, I may have gotten in trouble with the department had I done anything too different), but I still feel like I'm doing it half-way, holding back. And the result of that is that I feel like I am trying to sell my students on something and they're not really buying it.

Teaching Web 2.0, part 1

The theme of my Advanced Composition class is not technology or user-generated web, but it is a huge component. The theme is actually "Identity and Community," and under that umbrella, we're looking at the ways in which identity and community are constructed and expressed via electronic communication (I know I've described this before, but I thought a recap was in order). We're using blogs and message boards and the class is almost paperless, so the technology is in use all the time, but we're starting a four-week unit next week in which we'll study specifically web communication and virtual communities. And I'm showing this video.

The concept that underlies Web 2.0 is not exactly new. The internet has been connecting people and allowing people to create their own content for a very long time. What the video points out, though, is that those services that are being called Web 2.0 now have removed the need to understand coding and programming and "how" technology works by making user-friendly, accessible programs that allow people to put whatever they want online without any advanced technological knowledge. Those kinds of programs have also been around for a while, but now they are pervasive. Everybody's doing it. And while the questions of authorship and copyright and even relationships that the video's ending alludes to are also not really new--they were around long before Flickr and MySpace and Blogger--the exponential growth of Web 2.0 has brought those questions to the radar of many more people who don't necessarily identify themselves as artists, authors, or academics.

So what about teaching? I selected this topic for two reasons. It is timely and interesting to students, which hopefully will help them to enjoy the class and encourage them to put more effort into their writing assignments. And it presents intriguing questions about composition. With my theme, we are focused more on the first part. I'm asking students to be self-conscious about their use of user-generated web and to really consider its function and potential in their lives. Based on their blogs, I think that a lot of them do not realize how prominent the internet is in their personal lives, and I suspect that is because it is so commonplace that they find it unremarkable. I asked them to blog about their use of the internet, and several of them immediately stated that they could not live without it. They are plugged in all the time and feel anxious when they are away from it. But many others were reluctant to make such a statement, adamant that they are not "addicted" (a word used frequently among them) to the internet. Their entries almost ran on a pattern--They would insist from the beginning that they don't use the computer that much, mostly just for school. Then they would start to list the things they did online regularly, and the lists became lengthy, even as they continued to insist that they were not that "attached" to it. It went something like this: I don't use the internet much and I just don't understand why people are so attached to it and spend hours on the computer. But I use it all the time to do school work. And to talk to friends and family. And post pictures. And I have to check Facebook every day. But I don't really use it that much.

Issues of composition and authorship are not on their minds (except maybe for the guy who writes music and posts his songs online). Whether they are conscious of it or not, they are invested in the internet as a social tool (and secondarily, I think, as a learning tool). I've been easing them into thinking about it critically, and next week we're hitting it hard as they start writing papers that analyze virtual communities (primary research--yea!). Which brings me to the second big issue--composition. But not today. I don't like long blog posts, and I just wrote one, so now it's time to stop.

The next installment will come soon. And I will respond to the "Academia 2.o" video, which is really about something different.

Course evaluations

I've gotten some work done and I think I'll survive my meeting tomorrow. We'll see.

For now, I'm concerned about course evaluations. I do take them seriously and value student feedback, but I also try to keep it in perspective and not get myself worked up and paranoid over one disgruntled student. And isn't there always one? Last semester my class was totally online--never met my students in person although I did make myself available for face-to-face conferences. I am concerned about a few responses.

1. Assignments were too detailed and because of that were confusing. (this was an isolated comment but it stood out to me)
I was surprised at this--I would have expected the opposite to be true. In most of my classes I give assignment prompts that are at least a page long with bulleted lists of the essential elements. I do like my students to have some freedom to be creative, but I have generally found that too much freedom causes them to feel anxious (but that's not always bad). This was a Technical Writing class so the assignments did have precise requirements and were spelled out in great detail, more than I would usually give for a comp or lit class. So what do you think? Is there such a thing as too much detail for a tech writing assignment? How about for a more traditional academic essay? By graduate level, of course, most prompts consist of "Write a term paper. Period." Do lower level undergrads need more instructions while upper level need less? Should an online class have more detailed prompts to make up for the lack of classroom discussion of the assignment?

2. Too many assignments for an online class. (Not so isolated--maybe four people said this)
I think this just represents a problem with student attitudes toward online classes. They see it as a way to save time because they are too busy to sit in a classroom. And then when it requires as much work as a regular class, they are unhappily surprised. So this could just be chalked up to whining and ignored. But I think it might be something that has to be addressed in some way very early in the semester so students snap out of the mindset that they can breeze through the class simply because it is online.

3. Instructor seemed "annoyed or unwilling to offer advice."
Ouch. I am always frustrated when I score below perfect on the accessibility questions. I constantly remind and invite students to ask questions, email me, meet with me, etc. I don't know what to do when a student won't take advantage of it and then scores me low on evaluations. But there is another problem here. I seemed annoyed. Honestly, sometimes I was annoyed. My annoyance came when students did not ask questions or contact me when asked to but also when they did not read instructions and asked me questions that were clearly answered in the assignment prompts, or even worse, in bold letters on the announcements. My response to that was often "Read the instructions carefully and then ask me again if you have any more questions." That probably sounded like I was annoyed. I was. But what is the appropriate response? Electronic communication is, of course, notorious for miscommunications based on tone. No facial expression or tone of voice to help out. But there is also the problem that students (well, people in general) do not want to read instructions for themselves (especially, the long detailed ones in this class). This student's comment bothers me because it is really important to me to be available to my students and for them to feel comfortable approaching me. How do I communicate to them the importance of THEIR responsibility to read the course material carefully without sounding like I am annoyed if they ask me questions?

Incidentally, I did get positive comments on the same question. My favorite: “There was not a reasonable time when I could not reach her, unless it was late at night when normal people sleep.”

So there are a lot of questions, some rhetorical but others to which I would like some real answers. Any thoughts on these issues or course evaluations in general?

Person of the Year; Thank you very much :)

Time magazine's decision to name me--and you, who are participating with me in the user-generated web universe--Person of the Year was like a big ol' Christmas present just for me. This is SOOOO what I'm teaching next semester. It raises so many questions of composition, authorship, audience, identity, and community--very exciting for advanced comp. I am on a teaching high already and I'm just writing the syllabus. After a disappointing semester with technical writing (well, not so much disappointing as just plain boring), I am looking forward to a new course with an exciting topic and a new batch of students. And perhaps I will write a dissertation, too.

grading participation

My head is already in next semester, and I wanted to throw a question out to the blog world: How do you grade participation?

I am torn about whether to include participation as part of a course grade. Including it in the grade communicates to the students that their preparation for and participation in class activities (which will include class meetings and an online component in my case) is essential, but it also ends up being difficult to quantify. How do you make a participation grade more than simply an attendence grade? And how do you keep it from inflating grades?

400 words=awesome writing assignment

I have found a new writing assignment for advanced composition next semester, thanks to a Newsweek story about a literary magazine called 400 Words. The magazine publishes autobiographical nonfiction pieces with a 400-word limit. The theme of my course is Identity and Community, and what better way to wrap up the semester than with this exercise in clear, concise writing? And they will have the option then to submit it for publication. And ending the semester with such a short assignment means less grading stress--especially important since I will have a newborn by then. That's right--teaching next semester and giving birth in April. Can I do it? I sort of have to. I have it all planned out--hopefully Little Bit will respect the schedule.

my online students are being very quiet

Update on ethical dilemmas: I have decided that I will continue to blog about my class but I will avoid references to specific students. That talk will have to stay in the office. (Which is somehow not so bad?) I am still struggling with the Turnitin issue.

For the first time, my students are working on a project with an extended working period--about a month--and it's wrapping up this week. This whole time they have been very quiet. they have small weekly assignments, and they are logging on and doing those, but only two have actually asked questions about the assignment they are working on now. I post announcements frequently, urging them to keep in touch with me, but it has been to no avail. I am sure that some students have felt disconnected from me because of the online format, but this is the first time that I have really felt disconnected from them. I have no idea what is going on.

I can't help but feel like this means they are doing pretty much nothing and will try to throw together their reports in the next two days. We'll see.

frustrated with students

While some of my students are doing well, several are doing what they perceive as the minimum to get by. I say it is their perception because I disgree--their work has not met the minimum requirements, and I have not given them credit. Here's the kicker--instead of just sucking it up and taking their grade because they know they are slacking, they are arguing with me. Ordinarily I would suspect a miscommunication on my part--perhaps I had not been clear in the assignment--but I have double checked my instructions and I have stated explicitly and repeatedly what is expected of them. So why are they insisting that they should get credit for doing nothing? They are mad at me, but I am being clear and consistent in my grading.

Once again, this is a downside to the online class. My week has been full of dealing with the people who do not want to get their work done but want to argue with me about why they should get credit for it. Meanwhile I don't get to really interact with the students who are doing well because the slackers have me tied up. And they are not very nice.

I also had a complaint recently from a student who insisted that the peer review apparatus we are using is unfair because the students in the class (as he generalizes his feelings to include his classmates) do not have a clear understanding of what constitutes a good technical document. He revealed the next day that he does not have a textbook. Perhaps the two problems are related?

Today being a teacher is not fun.

online class getting better

Haven't blogged in a week--and I do have so much to say! But I had a sick little girl and then houseguests and today didn't go as planned, either, so blog is on the back burner.

But I have time for a quick update on my online technical writing class. I feel like I put so much time and energy into the first few weeks and got a ton of frustration in return, but now I am seeing the pay-off of the extra time spent in the beginning. My students seem to be on track at a rate actually better than my traditional classroom--first major assignment, all but one had it in on time. They are generally on top of things and talking to each other and talking to me, and I'm starting to feel pretty good about it all. I think all of us just needed soem time to ease into this new experience.

I think that my spring class is going to be a hybrid traditional classroom and online. Ideally, a computer lab classroom and online, meeting in person maybe once a week, at least in the beginning of the semester. I like the sound of that, and now someone is working with me to design the syllabus, and we'll run similar classes. This semester I have been working in a small group of first-time instructors, and that has been a great support network. I like the idea of having another person trying out this new class with me in the spring, too. The course, BTW, is Advanced Composition with the theme "Identity and Community." More to come on that.

blogs or message boards?

If the goal is to get students writing thoughtful responses to course materials and questions and for them to regularly read and comment on other students' posts so that they are engaging each other, is the best tool blogs or message boards?

Blogs might encourage longer posts--not that longer=better but a message board might seem like a place for a quick thought rather than a more developed response. But blogs stand separately, so the discussion might stay on one student's blog and not cross over as much as it would on a message board, where the various threads are all in one place for students to see all at once and click through easily.

It also seems overwhelming to require all students in a class to read all of their classmates' blogs, probably reducing the number of comments each blog would get. This semester, my students are only required to read the blogs of their group members, and the blogs are tied directly to a collaborative project. A message board might facilitate easier exchange among a larger number of class members.

Several years ago as a student I was in a large section of a course (maybe 75 students) with a message board, and it was fairly easy to keep up with the discussion, even with that many course members. But I'm sure that many students sort of fell by the wayside. It also meant that fewer people actually initiated discussions, but more people responded to the posts of other students. Depending on the goal of the exercise, it might be okay if only a handful of students are the initiators as long as the rest are thoughtfully discussing the ideas.

I am considering this question broadly for use with various kinds of classes but also with an online section of Advanced Composition in mind.

Hmmm.

online class ambivalence and coming attractions

I am putting out fires with my students today because they are doing something that is particularly confusing, technology-wise, and at the end of the day I am going to go in and repair the inevitable errors so that the technology thing will work properly. But, you know, they're not asking a bunch of questions about the wierd confusing thing they have to do today. They're asking questions about other things that are clearly answered in big announcements on the course homepage that they are apparently just not reading. Not everyone, of course. Most students are doing their assignments properly and asking reasonable questions. But the nature of the online class makes it more time-consuming to handle the problems that arise from students' neglecting to read instructions carefully because I have to talk to each student individually and answer these questions. I would think that the announcements portion of the course website would be the equivalent of standing in front of class and saying words to them, but that is only so if they actually read the words in big colorful text right in the center of the screen. I don't like feeling this kind of adversarial relationship with my students. I don't usually feel this way. But the online class can reduce the interaction I have with the students who are enthusiastic and pleasant and fun while increasing the interactions with students who are less committed and more likely to be rude and accusatory. I have begun to seek out students who are doing a good job and initiating personal communication with them. And the exchange is always satisfying. I think that I will make an effort over the next week to send some kind of personal message to any student with whom I have not yet communicated. That is reasonable with my class size. And by now I have communicated individually with most of them. I love to teach and I want to love to teach this class. I am learning how to make this thing into something I can love.

In other news, I'm at one of those points where I have a ton of potential blog posts cooking and have to decide which ones to get to first. I have a lot to say about academic pressure on kids that is relevant to my child now, my child's future education, and even my current students and my relationship with them. That's going to take several posts, but ideas are synthesizing in useful ways, I think. I also have had a personal epiphany that relates to the stalled progress of my dissertation and might contribute to its revival.

student as employer

One of my fellow online instructors recieved a rude email from one of her students who was generally displeased with the class. In her reply, as a technical writing teaching tool, she reminded him of the importance of tone in professional communication, asking as an example, if he would ever write such a message to his boss. He replied that, no, he would never use that tone with his boss but that the instructor was paid to instruct him. Wow.

The notion of the student as consumer is not new to me--I've heard tons of conversations along the lines of, "If I'm paying to be here, why should my attendance be required?" But this is the first time that I have heard of a student so brashly informing a teacher that she is his employee. There is so much wrong with this concept of the student-teacher relationship that I really don't know how I would handle the situation.

Education is no doubt a financial investment, and there can be advantages, I think, to seeing it that way--one might be motivated to do well in order to get the most for one's money. People tend to value what they pay for. But the notion of student as employer of the instructor cannot be good.

I have written and deleted three different paragraphs in this spot. There is much to say but so far nothing I have said has satisfied me. For now, I suppose I am just sending out this problem and my distress over it into the blogosphere.

and the trials of the online class begin

I really do not like to complain about my students, and I am frequently annoyed by others who do. I believe that many problems teachers have with students can be addressed by considering the teacher's approach to the situation and the way the teacher/student relationship has been established (I am speaking very broadly, I know). But I am not immune to being frustrated with my students, and a specific problem I frequently have is exacerbated by the nature of an online course.

People just don't read instructions. They glance over them, perhaps, but rarely do people set out to read and follow instructions carefully until they have made mistakes that require them to go back and look again. In a traditional classroom, students have opportunities to ask questions and express confusion in person, and a lot of problems are handled in that way before the assignments are due (while wasting valuable class time going over what they would have already known had they simply read the instructions!). The online class depends ENTIRELY on the student's ability to read and follow instructions. These instructions are delivered in a number of ways, with written documents and podcasts and samples and all kinds of things. But, alas, many students have failed to submit work this week because they just didn't know that it was due.

I must add here that I have spent A LOT of time online. I have frequently posted prominent announcements of impending due dates and reminded them which documents they need to have read and reviewed. I have sent messages to individual students when I see that they have fallen behind (already!!!). But I just spent a good ten minutes answering questions from one student, all of which are answered quite clearly on the documents that the announcements tell her in bold letters to read. And several students have told me that they just didn't realize that materials were due this week, when a really nice, very clear chart gives them dates and step-by-step instructions for completing assignments.

In a traditional classroom, I repeat my office hours and email address at every single class meeting and remind students that I am available to them. I was concerned from the beginning of the online class that my students would feel alone, and I have worked to make my presense seen and felt online. But I have students who have not asked questions until things go wrong--or until I contact them to let them know that things are going wrong--and they constantly apologize for bothering me. I am terribly frustrated right now.

I have some ideas about why this happens, but I will leave them for another day. Now I must turn away from this class that has taken up most of my day and prepare for something else. Tomorrow I have lunch with my advisor.

student participation in online courses

Oxymoron over at The Rhetorical Situation is actually teaching the same class I am teaching this semester. He has a good post about students' activity in online courses, and a discussion has begun in the comments. I won't copy my remarks here--check out the post. And for those interested in online courses, be on the lookout for further interaction between our blogs. I have admired Oxymoron's teaching for as long as I've known him, and I hope to see more from him on this topic.

A different sort of first day of school

Tomorrow is the first day of school, and I am teaching technical writing online. I have the jitters I always get before the first day of school even though I will not be speaking in front of anyone. Part of it is because I am excited, but I am also anticipating a lot of "freaking out" emails from students. Here's why.

I did not design this course. Rather it is a "canned" course that provides consistent content across many sections with different instructors and also serves to train new instructors in the course management program (we're using Moodle). The course is designed to train the students to use the course tools as they complete steps in the first assignment. I think that is an excellent way of going about it--much more efficient and effective than trying to show them the nuts and bolts in the first week and expecting them to remember. The problem I foresee is that students are going to want the nuts and bolts on the first day. And I don't actually have all of that down, myself. I am going through a similar training in the process of teaching that will show me how things work shortly before I need them. So I expect a barage of questions, some of which I will not be able to answer. I expect high anxiety for the first few weeks.

I recorded a podcast last week with all the stuff I normally say on the first day of class and a little bit of here's this and here's that. That was fun, and I like that my students will hear my voice and see my photo. I don't want them to feel all alone. I really like the personal contact I have with students in a traditional classroom, and that will be quite different this semester. I won't see as many of them in my office, I'm sure. But as one who enjoys the blogging community, I am confident that personalities will make it through the electronic interface and personal connections will be made. I am excited to see how.