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Alicia Fernandez

TOWARDS AN EFFECTIVE USE OF AUDIO CONFERENCING IN DISTANCE LANGUAGE COURSES - 0 views

llt.msu.edu/...default.html

distance language learning audio conferencing audio graphic conferencing

shared by Alicia Fernandez on 19 Jun 14 - Cached
  • Alicia Fernandez on 19 Jun 14
     
    In order to respond to learners' need for more flexible speaking opportunities and to overcome the geographical challenge of students spread over the United Kingdom and continental Western Europe, the Open University recently introduced Internet-based, real-time audio conferencing, thus making a groundbreaking move in the distance learning and teaching of languages. Since February 2002, online tutorials for language courses have been offered using Lyceum, an Internet-based audio-graphics conferencing tool developed in house. Our research is based on the first Open University course ever to deliver tutorials solely online, a level 2 German course, and this article considers some of the challenges of implementing online tuition. As a starting point, we present the pedagogical rationale underpinning the virtual learning and teaching environment. Then we examine the process of development and implementation of online tuition in terms of activity design, tutor training, and student support. A number of methodological tools such as logbooks, questionnaires, and observations were used to gather data. The findings of this paper highlight the complexity of the organisational as well as the pedagogical framework that contributes to the effective use of online tuition via audio conferencing systems in a distance education setting.
Irene Watts-Politza

Teachers' Invisible Presence in Net-based Distance Education | Hult | The International... - 0 views

www.irrodl.org/...838

distance education teachers university research teacher presence

shared by Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • The stance taken in this paper, then, is constructivist – that conversation is learning in the making.
  • Any conversation, that is, draws on heteroglossia (Bakhtin’s neologism) – pools of different ideas whose elements, when exchanged, foster learning. According to Bakhtin, every utterance has a double significance. It is an expression of a 'unitary [common] language' used to conduct the conversation and, at the same time, it builds on the 'social and historical' differences embedded in the heteroglossia (1981, p. 272).
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12
       
      This is what happens in a discussion thread.
  • Yuri Lotman,
  • ...28 more annotations...
  • described conversations as multi-authored texts rather than as multi-voiced heteroglossia (see Bakhtin, 1994,
  • texts “fulfill at least two basic functions:
  • fulfilled best when the codes of the speaker and the listener most completely coincide and, consequently, when the text has the maximum degree of univocality” (1988, p. 34). The generation of new meanings occurs when there are differences between the speaker and the listener. Texts used in educational exchanges cease:
  • online adult education is not the delivery of texts but, rather, the creation and insertion of ‘thinking devices’ into conversation.
  • For this article we have concentrated on teacher and student views of teachers’ role orientations in online courses.
  • our intention has been to identify and clarify teaching ‘saliences’ that have emerged in online adult education in Sweden. In a wider sense, however, our analysis is also a response to the question: ‘Whatever happened to teaching in the learning society?’
  • the posting data support the claim that the teachers adopted an initiating role.
  • Greater activity:
  • Greater influence on topic:
  • Faster response times:
  • When asked about their views, all students felt that teachers played a central role in supporting Net-based learning. Indeed, some of them suggested that moderation in online settings of adult education is more important than in face-to-face settings.
  • Orientations to Teaching
  • Activity Orientation
  • In this perspective, teachers gave students tasks that activated them and, thereby, fostered their understanding of subject matter.
  • offered students tips about articles, books and Internet sites
  • Some students spoke about being activated by stimulating tasks that led them to engage with the Web and libraries, with one of them adding ‘seeking by your self is a pre-condition for learning.’ Active searching also meant that students came into contact with information which extended their learning beyond the task itself.
  • None of the teachers, however, was entirely satisfied with their dialogic or conference practice. Levels of engagement, dialogue, and initiative-taking were not as high as they had hoped. In response, they tried to promote conversation by encouraging students to react to each other’s postings, by organising tasks where cooperation and interaction was needed, or by introducing new aspects and questions when discussion faltered.
  • Further, teachers reported that they also tried to act as models of good behaviour by giving swift replies to student postings and by making their own postings appropriate yet concise.
  • In contrast to the teachers most of the student group were satisfied with the course conversations.
  • A few
  • felt that sharing different aspects of the subject matter with the teacher and fellow students raised fresh questions. It made them reach beyond the book, evoking learning and thinking along new pathways. Even if they thought that well-chosen tasks were the most effective way of fostering dialogue, they also expected the course leader to participate fully, developing new themes if student postings declined, and remaining alert to student proposals that might enhance the interchange of ideas and knowledge.
  • Many students emphasised the importance of teaching that corroborated or validated their learning.
  • None of the teachers, however, spontaneously offered this view as their primary role or orientation. Nevertheless, when asked whether they had any correspondence with students through private mailboxes rather than ‘conferences’ and ‘cafes,’ some of them said that they occasionally responded privately to correct misinterpretations.
  • This task raises many questions about teaching, highlighting the difference, for example, between instructionist and constructionist paradigms for learning (Wilensky, 1991). Would a too well-planned course be instructionist, thus constraining student influence and the pursuit of democracy? In their postings, teachers in this study felt that there was no necessary contradiction – that well-planned courses could, indeed, strengthen student influence. Nevertheless, busy distance education students, according to the teachers, often appreciate instructionist courses with clearly stated activities and tasks, even if the students are left with limited opportunities to ‘construct their own relationships with the objects of knowledge’ (Wilensky, 1991, p. 202).
  • Teacher’s invisible presence is exemplified in taking a stand-by role and/ or being reluctant to intervene. ‘The [teachers’] silence should be deafening,’ one teacher recommended. Although most of the teachers agreed that well-planned courses do not inhibit course dialogue, the fact that in their own online course deliberations they set aside time to discuss this issue may reflect ambivalence in their stance. The question of when and how teachers should intervene remains impossible to resolve, except in practice.
  • three different aspects of teaching,
  • a second conclusion – that the promotion of learning in an open environment requires an animating or steering presence. Such teaching, however, is not a process of instruction. And for this reason the word teacher may no longer be appropriate. In English, the word tutor is commonly used in adult education, because it has connotations of ‘supervision’ and ‘guardianship’ as well as ‘instruction’ (see Oxford English Dictionary). More recently, Salmon has suggested ‘e-moderating,’ but even moderation carries instructionist connotations – to exercise a controlling influence over; to regulate, restrain, control, rule (OED) – that may not be appropriate to all forms of liberal education. In the context of mainland Europe, the word pedagogue may be appropriate since, etymologically, pedagogue denotes someone engaged in 'drawing out.'
  • Intellectual development, however, can be an intra- as well as an inter-personal phenomenon. That is, learning may not come directly from teachers but rather from their absent or invisible presence. Online pedagogues, therefore, can be present in different ways. They may be present in person, participating in learning conversations. They may constitute an absent presence that, nonetheless, is embodied in the learning resources directed towards students (e.g., the selected readings or activities). Or pedagogues may exist merely as inner voices, inherited from the language of others, that (invisibly) steer the desires, self-regulation, and self-direction of learners. Indeed, this last pedagogic position ‘auto-didacticism,’ has always been central to the post-Enlightenment ideals of liberal adult education.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12
       
      Here's the money.
  • Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12
     
    Swedish study of university student and professor attitudes toward satisfaction with and definition of teacher presence in online adult learning. Implications for course design with respect to knowing one's audience.
Sue Rappazzo

Teaching at an Internet Distance-----MERLOT - 1 views

web.archive.org/...tid_report.html

merlot elearning virtual education teaching Module 4

shared by Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10 - Cached
Kelly Hermann liked it
  • Several of our speakers were able to shed light on the cause of this rising tide of faculty opposition to computer mediated instruction. Andrew Feenberg of San Diego State University summarizes the situation in the opening paragraph of his "Distance Learning: Promise or Threat" (1999) article: "Once the stepchild of the academy, distance learning is finally taken seriously. But not in precisely the way early innovators like myself had hoped. It is not faculty who are in the forefront of the movement to network education. Instead politicians, university administrations and computer and telecommunications companies have decided there is money in it. But proposals for a radical "retooling" of the university emanating from these sources are guaranteed to provoke instant faculty hostility."
    • Kelly Hermann
      Kelly Hermann on 19 Jul 10
       
      As a red-head, I'm just glad they didn't use the phrase "red-headed stepchild." LOL
  • The implementation of online education shows both promise and peril. Computer mediated instruction may indeed introduce new and highly effective teaching paradigms, but high-quality teaching is not always assured. Administrative decisions made without due consideration to pedagogy, or worse, with policies or technology that hampers quality, may cause much wasted time, money and effort of both faculty and students.
  • In training, a particular package of knowledge is imparted to an individual so that he or she can assume work within a system, as the firefighters do for example. According to Noble, training and education are appropriately distinguished in terms of autonomy (Noble, 1999). In becoming trained, an individual relinquishes autonomy. The purpose of education, as compared to training, is to impart autonomy to the student. In teaching students to think critically, we say in effect "Student, know thyself." Education is not just the transmission of knowledge, important as that is, but also has to do with the transformation of persons (and the development of critical thinking skills).
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Does good teaching in the classroom translate to good teaching online? If so, what elements can be translated and which ones can't or shouldn't?
  • "The shared mantra of the faculty and staff during the development of this document was that "good teaching is good teaching!" An Emerging Set of Guiding Principles... is less about distance education and more about what makes for an effective educational experience, regardless of where or when it is delivered."
  • Good practice encourages student-faculty contact. Good practice encourages cooperation among students. Good practice encourages active learning. Good practice gives prompt feedback. Good practice emphasizes time on task. Good practice communicates high expectations. Good practice respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
  • Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of class is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students' intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.
  • At first glance, teaching a class without the ability to see and hear the students in person appears daunting. The enlightened, quizzical, or stony facial expressions, the sighs of distress or gasps of wonder, and even the less-than-subtle raised hands or interjected queries that constitute immediate feedback to a lecture, discussion, or clinical situation are absent. Yet the proponents of online instruction will argue that these obstacles can be overcome, and that the online format has its own advantages. In the online experiences documented in the "Net.Learning" (www.pbs.org/netlearning/home.html) videotape, which our seminar viewed early in the year, Peggy Lant of the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo presented a striking example that occurred in her class' online discussion of civil war. One student's comments were especially gripping as she had just survived a civil war in her home country. Shy students who have trouble participating in a classroom discussion are said to feel more comfortable in an online setting. The ability to sit and think as one composes a question or comment also can raise the quality of the discussion. Susan Montgomery at the University of Michigan has developed an interactive website that addresses diverse learning styles through the use of multimedia (Montgomery, 1998).
  • Teachers, trainers, and professors with years of experience in classrooms report that computer networking encourages the high-quality interaction and sharing that is at the heart of education. ...(The) characteristics of online classes... generally result in students' contributing material that is much better than something they would say off the top of their heads in a face-to-face class. There is a converse side, however. Just after the passage above, Harasim cautions (Harasim et al. 1995) On the other hand, unless the teacher facilitates the networking activities skillfully, serious problems may develop. A conference may turn into a monologue of lecture-type material to which very few responses are made. It may become a disorganized mountain of information that is confusing and overwhelming for the participants. It may even break down socially into name calling rather than building a sense of community.
  • At what cost is this high degree of interaction, the need for which we suspect is student motivation and the professor's (online) attentiveness, achieved? In the previous section it was noted that charismatic professors of large (several hundred student) classes might indeed reach and motivate the students in the back row by intangible displays of attentiveness. Online, attentiveness must be tangible, and may involve more effort than in a face-to-face setting. These considerations imply an inherent limitation of online class size; size is determined by the amount of effort required to form a "community of learners."
  • Small class sizes and the linear dependence of effort on student numbers are indicative of the high level of interaction needed for high quality online teaching
  • The best way to maintain the connection [between online education and the values of traditional education] is through ensuring that distance learning is 'delivered' not just by CD ROMs, but by living teachers, fully qualified and interested in doing so online ... [P]repackaged material will be seen to replace not the teacher as a mentor and guide but the lecture and the textbook. Interaction with the professor will continue to be the centerpiece of education, no matter what the medium.
  • and Ronald Owston, who points out (Owston, 1997) "...we cannot simply ask 'Do students learn better with the Web as compared to traditional classroom instruction?' We have to realize that no medium, in and of itself, will likely improve learning in a significant way when it is used to deliver instruction. Nor is it realistic to expect the Web, when used as a tool, to develop in students any unique skills."
  • Facilitating Online Courses: A Checklist for Action The key concept in network teaching is to facilitate collaborative learning, not to deliver a course in a fixed and rigid, one-way format. Do not lecture. Be clear about expectations of the participants. Be flexible and patient. Be responsive. Do not overload. Monitor and prompt for participation. For assignments, set up small groups and assign tasks to them. Be a process facilitator. Write weaving comments every week or two... Organize the interaction. Set rules and standards for good netiquette (network etiquette)... Establish clear norms for participation and procedures for grading... Assign individuals or small groups to play the role of teacher and of moderator for portions of the course. Close and purge moribund conferences in stages... Adopt a flexible approach toward curriculum integration on global networks.
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    Love the step child reference!
  • ...3 more comments...
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    Have I not struggled with this throughout this course?!
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    Joy and I talked about this in discussions. I am now struggling with making a project mgr. aware of this at work. The vendor training online was boring so lets deliver it all in person. Junk is Junk online or in person!
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    That body language we mentioned in discussions this week in ETAP687
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    MERLOT-Teaching at internet distance
  • Sue Rappazzo on 10 Jul 10
     
    module 4 merlot
Anneke Chodan

Distance Learning at Empire State College - 0 views

empire2.esc.edu/...cul

distance learning language classes

shared by Anneke Chodan on 12 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Anneke Chodan on 12 Jun 12
     
    Communications, Humanities and Cultural Studies at ESC's Center for Distance Learning - including language classes.
Irene Watts-Politza

Online Teaching Effectiveness: A Tale of Two Instructors | Gorsky | The International R... - 0 views

www.irrodl.org/...1270

shared by Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12 - Cached
  • We propose, as have others (i.e., Shea, Pickett, & Pelz, 2003), that the community of inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) reflects the principles of good practice in undergraduate education and can accurately quantify them.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12
       
      Go, Dr. Pickett!
  • issues of pedagogy, dialogue, and interaction
  • guide the coding of transcripts.
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • Social presence is the perceived presence of others in mediated communication (Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 1999), which Garrison et al. (2000) contend supports both cognitive and teaching presence through its ability to instigate, to sustain, and to support interaction. It had its genesis in the work of John Dewey and is consistent with all theoretical approaches to learning in higher education.
  • Teaching presence is defined as “the design, facilitation and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realizing [students’] personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile outcomes” (Anderson et al., 2001, p.5). Vygotsky’s (1978) scaffolding analogies illustrate an assistive role for teachers in providing instructional support to students from their position of greater content knowledge. Although many authors recommend a “guide on the side” approach to moderating student discussions, a key feature of this social cognition model is the adult, the expert, or the more skilled peer who scaffolds a novice’s learning
  • Shea, Pickett, & Pelz , 2004
  • Each category of a tutor’s presence is vital to learning and to the establishment of the learning community; tutors' behavior must be such that they are seen to be “posting regularly, responding in a timely manner and modeling good online communication and interaction” (Palloff & Pratt, 2003, p.118). Without an instructor’s explicit guidance and “teaching presence,” students were found to engage primarily in “serial monologues” (Pawan et al., 2003). Baker (2004) discovered that “instructor immediacy, i.e., teaching presence (Rourke et al., 1999), was a more reliable predictor of effective cognitive learning than whether students felt close to each other. Studies have demonstrated that instructor participation in threaded discussion is critical to the development of social presence (Shea, Li, Swan, & Pickett, 2005; Swan & Shih, 2005) and sometimes not fully appreciated by online faculty (Liu, Bonk, Magjuka, Lee, & Su, 2005). Shea, Li, and Pickett (2006) proposed that teaching presence – viewed as the core role of the online instructor – is a promising mechanism for developing learning community in online environments.
  • students ranked instructor modeling as the most important element in building online community, while instructors ranked it fourth.
  • Shea (2006), who completed an extensive study of teaching presence and online learning, concluded that two categories (“design” and “directed facilitation”) sufficed to define the construct.
  • Kalman, Ravid, Raban, and Rafaeli (2006) argued that interactivity is an essential characteristic of effective online communication and plays an important role in keeping message threads and their authors together. Interactive communication (online as well as in traditional settings) is engaging, and loss of interactivity results in a breakdown of the communicative process.
  • Research indicates the existence of a relationship between learners’ perceptions of social presence and their motivation for participation in online discussions (Weaver & Albion, 2005).
  • Northrup (2002) found that online learners felt it was important for instructors to promote collaboration and conversation. When interactive activities are carefully planned, they lead not only to greater learning but also to enhanced motivation (Berge 1999; Northrup, 2002).
  • Researchers have suggested that timing of messages can serve as a proxy for a sense of social presence (Blanchard, 2004), as an indication of attentiveness (Walther & Bunz, 2005) or respect (Bargh & McKenna, 2004), and as a clue to the sociability of a community (Maloney-Krichmar & Preece, 2005). As such, the frequency of messages may serve as a signal for how engaged participants are with the community.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
      Irene Watts-Politza on 07 Jun 12
       
      Agreed.
  • Eom found that the most significant factors for increasing student satisfaction with online classes are paying attention to students and responding to their concerns.
  • The highly esteemed instructor was especially active from semester midpoint to semester end; she more than doubled her active participation in both teaching presence (especially discourse and instruction) and social presence (all three categories).
  • the lack of specific, progressively structured inquiry tasks and/or the lack of facilitation skills (teaching presence/facilitating discourse) may have contributed to the relatively limited occurrences of cognitive presence.
  • something else accounted for the extreme satisfaction and dissatisfaction experienced by students in the two forums. The something else may be the two exceptional events that occurred during the third month: The instructor held in low esteem became nearly dysfunctional, while the highly esteemed instructor exhibited very high teacher presence and social presence (see Table 3 and 4).
  • Shea, Pickett, and Pelt (2003) found that students’ perceived teacher presence also correlates with perceived learning as well as with students’ satisfaction with the forum. This correlation points to the tentative conclusion that teaching presence affords learning by setting a convenient climate.
  • we suggest that students’ perceived learning in course forums has a significant impact on their participation
  • the table is suggestive of the eventual possibility of having an “objective” tool for evaluating the quality of a given forum.
  • (Anderson et al., 2001).
  • Teaching effectiveness may be defined as how an instructor can best direct, facilitate, and support students toward certain academic ends, such as achievement and satisfaction. Teaching effectiveness has been investigated extensively in traditional classrooms for more than seven decades (for a meta-analysis of empirical studies from 1995-2004, see Seidel & Shavelson, 2007). Over the past five years, research has become directed toward teaching effectiveness in online or virtual classes. As a preface to our study, we discuss findings and conclusions concerning teaching effectiveness in traditional classrooms.
  • Journal Help ISSN: 1492-3831 Journal Content Search All Authors Title Abstract Index terms Full Text Browse By Issue By Author By Title User Username Password Remember me Article Tools Abstract Print this article Indexing metadata How to cite item Review policy Email this article (Login required) Email the author (Login required) Post a Comment (Login required) Font Size Make font size smaller Make font size default Make font size larger SUBSCRIBE TO MAILING LIST 5,591  subscribers Select Language​▼ function googleTranslateElementInit() { new google.translate.TranslateElement({ pageLanguage: 'en', autoDisplay: false, layout: google.translate.TranslateElement.InlineLayout.SIMPLE }, 'google_translate_element'); } Home About Register Archives Announcements Resources Submissions http://www.irrodl.org/
  • One of the most widely cited sources for teacher effectiveness in traditional classrooms is Chickering and Gamson (1987), who suggested seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education.
  • encourages student-faculty contact, encourages cooperation among students, encourages active learning, gives prompt feedback, emphasizes time on task, communicates high expectations, respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
Anneke Chodan

Elluminate Live! V10 Participant's Guide :: Elluminate - 0 views

www.elluminate.com/...ive%21_V10_Participant_s_Guide

elluminate guide distance learning

shared by Anneke Chodan on 12 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Anneke Chodan on 12 Jun 12
     
    This is a service that Empire State's Center for Distance Learning uses for language labs.
Francia Reed

learners perceptions on feedback - 3 views

Furnborough, C. & Truman, M. (2009) Adult beginner distance language learner perceptions and use of assignment feedback. Distance Education, Vol. 30 (3), 399-418. DOI: 10.1080/01587910903236544 Th...

education learning feedback self-regulated

started by Francia Reed on 03 Jun 11 no follow-up yet
Diane Gusa

elearningpost » Articles » Experience-Enabling Design: An approach to elearni... - 0 views

www.elearningpost.com/...n_approach_to_elearning_design

e-learning design experience instructionaldesign Learning education

shared by Diane Gusa on 05 Jul 11 - Cached
    • Diane Gusa
      Diane Gusa on 05 Jul 11
       
      Course evaluations would help here.
    • Diane Gusa
      Diane Gusa on 05 Jul 11
       
      I know it took me some time to find myself around. Some of my activity problems was reflection of problems of "getting aroung" What was intuitive to some was not for me. I wonder if the difference of linear thinking (most adults) and global thinking (me).
    • Diane Gusa
      Diane Gusa on 05 Jul 11
       
      This describes my experience thus far in this course structure.
  • ...16 more annotations...
    • Diane Gusa
      Diane Gusa on 05 Jul 11
       
      Key point and it follows how does the designer then rethink the product base on the learner's mind?
    • Diane Gusa
      Diane Gusa on 05 Jul 11
       
      This course is an experience.
    • Diane Gusa
      Diane Gusa on 05 Jul 11
       
      I wonder if this statement can be translated to social (emotional), teacher (behavioral), and cognitive presence?
  • Experience is a way in which the self relates or connects emotionally to the world. Experiencing something involves a complex set of psychophysical processes: sensation, perception, apperception, cognition, affection, and sometimes conation. Added to this, is the interplay of psychosocial factors like expectations, attitudes, needs, desires, etc.
  • sheer absences of structural orientation cues
  • For elearning to be successful, it needs to be crafted for experience at all the above three levels
  • Psychologist Alice Isen and her colleagues have shown that positive experiences are critical to learning, curiosity, and creative thought.
  • She discovered that people who felt good were more curious, better at learning, and were able to come up with creative solutions (Isen, A. M. 1993). The scope of design therefore, should extend beyond functionality to fulfill the need for experience.
  • a designer cannot control the development of expectations in the learners' minds
  • The designer can only control the product
  • Creating experience is the art of emotional, behavioral and cognitive engagement with the consumer.
  • dded to this, is the confusing maze of open and closed spaces and a gloomy and rugged floor to traverse while finding your way out of the confusion.
  • ease and intuitive way of getting in, moving around and exiting are the experience factors. How do we bridge this gap between layout and experience? Four possible guidelines, which can help a designer ensure outcomes are experienced in an elearning product, are: Embrace experience as an outcome Create a shared language Narrow the gap from idea to outcome Drive constituent parts towards total experience
  • One needs to cultivate a method of detachment by distancing oneself from the idea in order to evaluate its validity.
  • contribution as creating spaces that evoke desired experiences.
  • Establishing geography lets the viewer get the bearings on the topography of the event.
Maria Guadron

Ethical Behavior Guidelines for Online Students - Online College Courses - 1 views

www.onlinecollegecourses.com/...guidelines-for-online-students

cyberbullying prevention resilience online learning

shared by Maria Guadron on 08 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Classroom Behavior Your behavior in class, or the manner in which you conduct yourself, is also an ethical choice. One of the most common set of rules for interactions within a technologically-enabled environment is called Netiquette, which is important because “the distance imposed by computer networks disrupts our interactions so that people may become more vocal (mostly a good thing), but also more careless.” What I’ve noticed during class discussions is that students may forget that their classmates are people and can read, interpret, and misinterpret what has been posted. That’s why I remind students to read their messages aloud before posting them and consider both the content and possible tone of the messages. I also encourage students to find specific elements of their peers’ responses to focus on when they are posting messages – in other words, keep it academic, not personal.  Another ethical choice to make, concerning your classroom behavior, is related to the issue of cyber safety, which involves how you behave or act towards others online. Cyber safety for students “includes the language they use and the things they say, how they treat others, respecting people's property (e.g. copyright) and visiting appropriate websites.” Also related to cyber safety is cyber bullying. Forms of cyber bullying can include: •    “Insulting: Posting or spreading false information about a person that will cause harm to that person or that person’s reputation. •    Targeting: Singling someone out and inviting others to attack or make fun of her or him. •    Excluding: Pressuring others to exclude someone from a community (either online or offline). •    Harassment: Repeatedly sending someone nasty, mean and insulting messages.” It is your responsibility as a student to act ethically in your class. Instructors know the importance of monitoring online interactions to ensure that students have a safe classroom environment to work in. For example, if I observe a message within the discussion board that may be perceived as threatening or hostile, I’ll address it right away with that student and should the problem continue I can file a Student Code of Conduct violation with the school.
  • Maria Guadron on 08 Jun 12
     
    Prevent cyberbullying with ethical behavior guidelines for online students.
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