Establishing Community and Avoiding Conflict in Online Classes

Establishing Community:

a.   Set up a cyber café and encourage postings

b.   Instructors can model community.

c.    Younger students may already be used to online communities like “MySpace” and “FaceBook.” You may make it clear that you require formal writing.

d.   Provide a good orientation to what is expected.

e.    Allow some flexibility.

f.       Give students a sense of control. Allow them to not post but read in one or two forums.

g.   Have students share details about their lives if appropriate.

h.    Teaching by vignettes or Case Studies encourages participation.

i.        Begin each posting addressing the student personally, in order to personalize the interaction and create a more personal connection.

 Conflict in an online class:

a.   Phrases like “let’s take a step back” or “I’m glad to see that a sensitive issue has been raised” may start to diffuse the situation.

b.   Remind students of the issues involved, which do not have to involve personalities.

c.    If students interject political or religious beliefs into the discussion remind them that this is not the purpose of the exercise.

d.   You can delete postings with personal attacks. Make it clear in the rubric that this is going to happen.

e.    Ask open-ended questions to get students to clarify their opinions.

f.       Resource on conflict management: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_81.htm

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-classroom-management/conditions-associated-with-classroom-conflict/

Netiquette rules: http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html  

g.   Make the rules clear to students at the start of class. Students can establish their own “class charter” on the ground rules.

h.    Sometimes conflict is good. Students should learn how to manage conflict in online classes because they will more and more be expected to work online in groups in business.

Issues and Concerns of Teachers New to Online

Concerns: 

• Many teachers are distressed about not being able to see and students and have them see you. Web technology will soon make it possible for the students to see you and you to see them, but if you do that then the asynchronous nature of online is lost. I have found that the personality of the students and the instructor does come through in online postings.
• Student confusion at login can be a problem. Some institutions offer a course in the software. That is a barrier unless it is optional or unless it is an introductory course that carries credit.
• Sometimes students need a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to see if others have asked the same thing. I do often, especially at the undergrad level, and give a Quiz on the Syllabus the first week of class. It is for credit (not a lot of credit, but credit) and students can take it many times in the first 10 days of class. My aim is to be sure they know the material.
• I sometimes require students to sign and return to me a “Letter of Agreement” that has item such as “I have purchased the text book” “I understand the grading” “I have a backup computer plan.” They do get credit for this.
• Not all students own a computer. They may be using the computers in the institution’s computer lab or at a library. Be judicious in the use of multimedia that demands many computer resources.

• Students should know what is expected. Here is what one community college sends to students http://www.muskegoncc.edu/pages/2246.asp (Muskegon Community College)
• Discussions are important. http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring51/edelstein51.pdf   Students learned more and were happier with the outcome if there were discussions.
• ·     The  instructor needs to be logging in and responding to the discussions.
• ·            Teachers must be trained to become good online instructors. Some college professors may find it very difficult to make the transition to online. I subscribe to the Podagogy blog and I thought this posting was interesting http://blog.podagogy.com/?p=421
• ·          It is the teacher's responsibility to make sure the students know what you expect. If faculty are grading once a week, then let the students know so they don’t worry when their work is not immediately graded. You can use the “track changes” feature of Word to make comments inside the student papers.
• .
• ·          Threaded discussions help the students stay connected, but the students need to be told what is expected of them. Students also need grades as feedback.

Organizing Content in Blackboard and in Moodle 

  It is important for a Course Management System (CMS) to provide facilities for organizing class material. Scrolling through pages and pages of text is too discouraging for students. In earlier Course Management Systems (CMS) the class was organized by adding icons on the main page. However, this became cumbersome because it cluttered the screen and required students to click on an icon, which then may contain other icons, which in turn may have had other icons. It was just too cumbersome and students often got lost and missed information. Blackboard and Moodle have surmounted this obstacle in different ways.

Blackboard uses the sidebar, main area approach and Moodle uses a screen split in three parts with the content in the middle.

IN THE OPENING SCREEN
Typically, In Blackboard there is a side bar on the left as you face the screen.

It is customizable and the teacher can add or remove buttons. By clicking on the button students can navigate the content of the course. This saves the main screen for whatever option the teacher selects.

In most cases this is the class announcements, which can include a graphic. Announcements may contain a course link, which allows students to click and be taken directly to the material.

In contrast, Moodle does not have a side bar. It splits the screen in three columns. The main column is for the course content. The two side columns can be customized with Blocks such as calendar, messages, recent activity and people, which shows those who are in the class at the present moment.

Both systems have advantages and disadvantages. I like that I can rearrange, add and change the side bar buttons in Blackboard. I like the readily available calendar in Moodle, and being able to see who is online (the Participants block) and the recent activity. I don’t like the way that Moodle keeps all the course information in the middle of the screen with no really quick access. I don’t like that that Blackboard only allows one item in the space facing the sidebar. I would like to also have a calendar. Some faculty make the calendar the option for the opening screen in Blackboard and then have the announcements be a button on the side bar.