Managing Students Online

Managing students online; particularly behavior, seems like an impossible task, doesn’t it? I wondered what it would be like when I started teaching GENED 197, Introduction to E-Learning at Boise State. I found out after a couple of iterations of the 5-week course that I had to be very proactive and clear about my expectations. I had to communicate in writing (which, fortunately, I prefer!) more frequently than I would have thought necessary. Despite the fact that most of the questions that the students were asking were answered clearly in the introductory material or in the lesson itself, it seemed that they needed the assurance of a personal answer. I have resisted the response, “For the fifth time, read the instructions in Lesson One; the paragraph beginning…”!! Instead, I have used the opportunity to apply a little patience, not something I’m noted for, and have found it to be good for both me and the student.

I have not had issues of disruption, threats, abusive or foul language or anything more extreme than apathy or hopelessness. Online students are very prone to procrastination; they know that, they learn what the characteristics of a successful online learner are, and yet some of them still attempt to do half the assignments during the last week of class!

As Ko and Rossen (2004) discuss on pages 228-238, I have dealt with several students in their categories of “Quiet Students”, “The Staller”, “The Must-Pass-This-Class” student and others. On the other hand, I have had students who were highly capable and motivated, completing the entire course in the period of a 3-day weekend! The one technique that I use with most of the problem students is to provide them with the information that they need and emphasize that it is their responsibility to apply it to the assignment. I often have to remind them of the requirements for passing the class. Like most people, they like to test the boundaries. I do not spoon-feed students; it’s demeaning to them and too time-intensive for me. It doesn’t take long to identify the student who wants (not necessarily needs) excessive hand-holding, to avoid the tedium of reading and understanding the directions!

For some other tips on dealing with problem online students and teaching online in general, refer to the following resources, they’re pretty good, though not as comprehensive or focused as I would like:

http://research.microsoft.com/scg/papers/Bad%20Behavior%20Survey.pdf

http://www.classweb.hs.iastate.edu/tips/default.asp

Preparing Students for Online Learning

This topic, the subject of Chapter 9 of Ko and Rossen was of particular interest to me, since I facilitate an online course designed for beginners: Intro to E-Learning at Boise State University. When Ko and Rossen discuss problems that students typically encounter; terminology, technical problems, and mismatch of learning styles, all were very familiar. However, to ease the transition to the online course world, a welcome e-mail letter is typically sent out just before the beginning of each class to each student, the purpose of which is to orient them and welcome them to the class. The e-mail presents a lot of information; the one I use is presented below in detail. You are welcome to use it as a model. It follows the basic elements of a good student orientation in Ko and Rossen.

Welcome & basic information
Welcome to Boise State University! You are enrolled in the GENED 197, Introduction to E-Learning at Boise State Fall 2005 3rd 5-Week Internet class, which is conducted online via Boise State’s web-based course management system, Blackboard. The specific class you are registered for is Class #72663, Section #4038, Special Topics – Introduction to E-Learning, Fall 2005 Catalog. The 3rd five-week session begins October 31 and ends December 9, 2005.

Class start deadline
This course is being conducted with Boise State’s web-based course management system, Blackboard. The course will be available on October 31 or shortly thereafter. You must LOGIN to Blackboard the first day of the semester. This confirms that you have actively participated in the first week of the semester. Students who do not LOGIN to Blackboard before noon on Wednesday, November 2, may be administratively dropped. Blackboard login instructions are provided in detail below.

Instructor information
My name is Paul Castelin. You may contact me by e-mail paulcastelin@boisestate.edu, or by telephone (208) 426-1962. My preference is email, unless the need is urgent. My (virtual) office hours are generally from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on M-F or you may contact me via e-mail anytime. Please be aware that even though e-mail is available in the middle of the night, I am generally not. I will do my best to respond to your inquiry within 24 hours.

Expectations

Note: It is better for you to drop a class that does not match your expectations immediately than to continue if you are not prepared. For the GENED 197 class, you must drop the class by the end of the second day of class (since it is only a five-week class) to get a fee refund and no “W”-withdraw on your transcript. For the 3rd five-week session (this one!), the drop deadline is midnight Wednesday, November 2.

This class is not a self-study or online correspondence course. Though you may access Blackboard anytime and complete most of the work asynchronously, this course has weekly deadlines and requires mandatory regular participation. Each student must complete assignments, tests, quizzes, and all other course requirements by the posted deadlines. If you encounter an unexpected problem not related to coursework, please contact me immediately. Late and/or incomplete assignments or projects are only accepted when prior arrangements have been made.

This course is not easier or less time-consuming than its on-campus equivalent. In fact, because all of the content for this course must be read, you will likely spend more time than you would in a face-to-face class. It is generally recommended that you set aside 3-4 hours per week per credit hour (as for this class, for example) for working online and submitting assignments. Also, learning online takes a different skill set than does learning in a classroom. If you are unsure about your ability to learn online, consider taking the self-assessment survey located at: http://www.boisestate.edu/distance/forstudents_selfscreen.htm

Technical & skill information
This online class will not teach you how to use the computer, the basics of how to navigate the web, or manage your electronic files. At a minimum, you should be able to: navigate the Internet using a browser; navigate among and between multiple open windows; open, close, and save files and attachments; and send and receive e-mail attachments.

For the best experience, you must have (daily) access to a computer with the following recommended requirements for equipment and setup:
o Pentium PC Computer;
o DSL or cable network connection (recommended) or at minimum, a 56K modem with dial-up Internet Service Provider (ISP),
o Windows 95 or higher OR a Macintosh running System 7.5 or higher;
o Minimum of 64MB RAM;
o Web browser - Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher is recommended.

Blackboard LOGIN instructions
This course is being conducted with Boise State’s web-based course management system, Blackboard. The login page is located at http://blackboard.boisestate.edu.

If this is your first time signing into Blackboard, please follow this process:
Use your student ID for both your LOGIN and PASSWORD the first time you visit.
Access "Personal Information" to change your password.
Be careful to SAVE your password. If you lose or forget a password it must be reset by Blackboard Personnel. I do not have access to personal passwords to retrieve them, nor can I contact Blackboard on your behalf.

Directions for the course site
When you are active in Blackboard, please click on the Introduction to E-Learning link and review class features and requirements. You will find the syllabus under the Course Documents link, assignments under the Assignments link, and announcements under the Announcements link. To locate help and reference information for Blackboard, see the information listed under “Manual” and “Tools”.

Support Information
The following support is available to you as an online student:

Blackboard Help
Hours: 8AM – 5PM M-F
Email:
Phone: 208.426.583

BroncoWeb Help
Hours: 8AM-6PM M-Th & 8AM-5PM F
Email:
Phone: 208.426.BWEB (2932)

BroncoMail Help
Help Desk Hours: 8AM-5PM M-F
Email:
Phone: 208.426.4357
Website with instructions and FAQ available 24/7:

Distance Education Help
Sandy Howell
Hours 8AM-5PM M-F
Email:
(208) 426-4216

Finally, I checked out Portland Community College's "Online Learning Orientation" and found it very helpful, though it is more generic than the orientation provided specifically for my Intro to E-Learning class. It provided a detailed orientation in a pleasing web-based presentation. It can be found at: http://www.distance.pcc.edu/orientation/intro/intro.cfm

Converting to Online Courses

Well, this has been an interesting week or so...kinda where the rubber meets the road. As a former military instructor, I don't have what I can call a "traditional" course that I can convert to an online course, as we are considering in our Online Teaching course. I inherited a one-credit course that I facilitate in Blackboard, but as for developing a course from scratch, this was a new, and humbling experience for me. I decided to model a fictitious course Beginning HTML based on the first couple of weeks of my JavaScript programming class. The process went alright and I'm very thankful that I am a well-organized type familiar with Blackboard, because without that background, I would have found the whole process very time-consuming.
Ko and Rossen (2004) cover the topic of course conversion very well in Chapter 3. Since they are using Blackboard as an example LMS, their examples and discussion were very practical and immediately applicable. Their use of case studies was also especially helpful, based upon the nature of the course that was being converted.

Another very helpful conversion tool, using a different LMS, nevertheless made conversion a more straightforward process. It maps traditional classroom features to the corresponding online features in a tabular way. It can be found at: http://casl.umd.umich.edu/distancelearning/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=114.

One of more distasteful aspects of course conversion is the necessity to do all this development work in addition to your normal 8-to-5 (right!). At least one university (University of Colorado, Denver) sweetens the pot a little bit by paying selected faculty to do course conversions and provides the technical resources to assure that it is done in an efficient and timely manner. See more about this at: http://thunder1.cudenver.edu/CFD/webcamp.pdf. I get the sense from much of this reading that online courses are poised to explode as conversions from traditional classroom courses really gets underway. This whole process, though, needs to be guided by experienced instructional designers to avoid simply putting all the "stuff" from a face-to-face course into an electronic format. The electronic medium allows for much greater richness in features and content than that...