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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.

As the days go on, I realize that my understanding of what it takes to be a successful online learner and teacher is changing.

I find that I am quickly falling back into old (and excellent) habits of being a student.  While it’s overwhelming, I do love it.  I’ve also observed that since the last time I was a student, much has changed.  Yes, in terms of technology and pedagogy, but I’m referring to me personally.  I’m a little older, a little wiser, much more settled in terms of my personal life and career, and overall just a much happier person than I was 7 years ago. 

Traditional course management systems such as Blackboard, Moodle, or WebCT provide integrated solutions for faculty to post course content, assignments, and student grades.

They are often document-centered, allowing instructors to post PowerPoint slides, Word and PDF files, and other course content for students to access. In addition, many course management systems allow students to log in to check grades, submit assignments, or take exams electronically. The responsibility lies with the instructor to create the course content for students to download or access.  

I have observed at least three major phases that many teachers go through, or far too often, fail to go through. Phase I might be described by Harry Wong as "Doing what you have been doing, and getting what you have been getting". In other words, Phase I is simply the pre-reform effort phase. Of course, we as educators hope to move teachers to a new vision and this can result in Phase II.

    In Phase II, teachers are presented with a new teaching strategy, usually in the context of an afternoon or one day workshop. So armed with this new skill, but little else, they venture back to their classroom to try implementation or worse, write off the whole experience and tell colleagues seated near them that they already do that. What is immediately noticeable for those who at least think about possible implementation, is how these teachers internalize this new strategy and attempt to move it into practice.

Phase III is where teachers reflect on 1. what they were doing that worked, and 2. how they might integrate these new ideas into their pre-workshop repertoire of teaching tools.

I want you to guess at meanings. Do not look up words in a dictionary

In the meantime, I've written a book, from which this article is drawn, about all that I've learned from my research. In my book, I focus on what I identify as seven myths, or widely held beliefs, that dominate our educational practice. I start with the myth that teaching facts prevents understanding, because this (along with my second myth, that teacher-led instruction is passive) is the foundation of all the other myths I discuss. These myths have a long pedigree and provide the theoretical justification for so much of what goes on in schools. Taken together, all seven myths actually damage the education of our pupils. But here, let's focus on facts and the role knowledge has in our understanding.

Why Is It a Myth? My aim here is not to criticize true conceptual understanding, genuine appreciation of significance, or higher-order skill development. All of these things are indeed the true aim of education. My argument is that facts and subject content are not opposed to such aims; instead, they are part of it. Rousseau, Dewey, and Freire were wrong to see facts as the enemy of understanding. All the scientific research of the last half-century proves them wrong. The modern bureaucrats and education experts who base policy and practice on their thinking are wrong too, and with less excuse, as they have been alive when evidence that refutes these ideas has been discovered. Rousseau was writing in the 18th century; Dewey at the turn of the 20th; Freire in the 1970s. Research from the second half of the 20th century tells us that their analyses of factual learning are based on fundamentally faulty premises.

If we want pupils to develop the skills of analysis and evaluation, they need to know things. Willingham puts it this way:23 Data from the last thirty years lead to a conclusion that is not scientifically challengeable: thinking well requires knowing facts, and that's true not just because you need something to think about. The very processes that teachers care about most—critical thinking processes such as reasoning and problem solving—are intimately intertwined with factual knowledge that is stored in long-term memory (not just found in the environment).

There is considerable evidence showing that assessment drives student learning. More than anything else, our assessment tools tell students what we consider to be important. They will learn what we guide them to learn through our assessments.

Assessment is more than grades To many, the word "assessment" simply means the process by which we assign students grades. Assessment is much more than this, however. Assessment is a mechanism for providing instructors with data for improving their teaching methods and for guiding and motivating students to be actively involved in their own learning. As such, assessment provides important feedback to both instructors and students. Assessment is Feedback for Both Instructors and Students Assessment gives us essential information about what our students are learning and about the extent to which we are meeting our teaching goals. But the true power of assessment comes in also using it to give feedback to our students. Improving the quality of learning in our courses involves not just determining to what extent students have mastered course content at the end of the course; improving the quality of learning also involves determining to what extent students are mastering content throughout the course.

Assessment Drives Student Learning The types of assessment usually performed in first-year science, math, engineering, and technology (STEM) courses--giving students tests--merely inform students about their grade, or ranking, after they have received instruction. In addition, these common testing techniques--which typically test for fact-based knowledge and algorithmic problem solving--tell our students that this is the type of knowledge we think is most important. That is, we appear to value the understanding of concepts at a relatively low level. Given that this is the type of assessment our students most frequently encounter, and that it will eventually lead to their final course grades, students learn to study the content in our courses in an expeditious way that allows them to succeed in passing many first-year STEM courses without necessarily developing deep understanding of concepts. It is our assessment that drives students learning.

by its nature informal, emotional, full of humorous quips, and in a word, "chatty" (see Exhibit 5 for examples of chats). Given the one-line limits to chat text, interruptions abound. Chatters move on while someone else responds to something said a few lines back. Although the chat is hardly recognizable as an academic discussion, it can help generate a vital engagement with the text that students then transfer to the message board

Pedagogy describes the traditional instructional approach based on teacher-directed learning theory. Andragogy describes the approach based on self-directed learning theory. Malcolm Knowles, a recognized leader in the field of adult education, coined the term andragogy from the Greek words aner, meaning adult, and agogus, meaning guide or leader, to describe the art and science of helping adults learn (Knowles, 1992).

The nature of the online learner suggests that online instructor training be based on andragogical theory.

an experiential model that is learner-centered rather than instructor-centered, dialogue-based rather than lecture-based.

other words, Wiggins and McTighe argue that you can’t start planning how you’re going to teach until you know exactly what you want your students to learn. 

worth being familiar with.”

What facts, concepts and principles should they know?  What processes, strategies and methods should they learn to use?