DE Oracle @ UMUC

Enhancing the Atmosphere of Your Online Classroom - Part II

Michael Sweeney

Graduate School of Management and Technology

Published: March-April 2002

Category: » Online-pedagogy » Classroom-communication

Recap

In part one of this article I covered "Using your resources," "Your online persona," and "How to be a great bartender" (don't ask, just read it). ;-). Here's part two. 

How to avoid email hell - Keep it in the classroom

At the beginning of the semester, I give my students the following quiz:

If you are in a face-to-face class and have a mundane question regarding clarification of an assignment, submission of homework, test dates, or the like, would you:

Ask the question in class so everyone else can benefit from the answer. or Make an appointment with me to ask the question in private. *

* Be aware that, if you answer B, I can send mild electric shocks through your keyboard.

Most of my students get the point. Email, like the office appointment, is best reserved for private conversations. Most class-related questions are properly asked in the classroom. You might want to set up a special conference for questions. There are several potential benefits to keeping as many questions as you can in the classroom.

Students can often answer each other's questions, giving the questioner a faster answer and helping the instructor out. If I find that a cohort has answered a student's question, I usually chime in to give my support or possibly some clarification and to thank the student who provided the answer. Other students may have the same question and will benefit from seeing the question and answer in the classroom. Keeping it in the classroom will save you time and will help you avoid the email "hell" I once experienced when I logged on to find over 250 unanswered emails!

If you post some guidelines about email use and think that everyone will follow them; well …I have this bridge for sale connecting the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan that I can let you can have for a song. ;-)

Sometimes people just don't get it right away and have to be gently reminded. If someone sends you an email asking a question that you feel would be more appropriately asked in class, consider putting the question and your answer in a conference. After a while most people seem to catch on.

Let's give them something to talk about - Stimulating classroom participation

You probably already post discussion questions to stimulate classroom discussion. When possible, try to avoid cut-and-dried definition-type questions and consider using questions that ask for an example or an opinion.

I use article reviews as another discussion stimulator. For this assignment, I require students to read articles in current periodicals related to the class and to post reviews of the articles. Each student is required to post a minimum number of reviews. Students are also required to comment on the reviews posted by their peers. I usually set up two separate conferences for this. One conference is dedicated to student reservations for articles only. Upon selecting an article to review, a student first checks this conference to ensure that no one else has already selected the article, and then makes a reservation. The second conference is for completed reviews and comments on peers' reviews. Article reviews have worked very well at stimulating discussions in my WebTycho classes.

Often, either before or after our face-to-face classes, we might engage in some "small talk" with our students. Why not try the same online? Every week or so I post a "fun" question in the social area of my WebTycho classes. Some examples include "Describe your workspace. Do you hook up to class from your office or from your laptop in the bedroom while your spouse is watching TV?" or "Where was your most unusual place for hooking up to class?" Another favorite is "What do you do for exercise, run marathons or watch movie marathons on TV?" I've had a lot of fun with questions such as these. They help me see my students more as people rather than a collection of email addresses.

Conclusion

Over these past two parts, I've attempted to give you a few ideas of things you might try in order to give your WebTycho classroom a more human and personal feel. The more comfortable your students are in your class, the more likely they are to learn. It is my sincere hope that the ideas I've outlined here will be of some benefit to you. If you have any questions or comments on what I've presented, please don't hesitate to contact me.