My perspective of class threads (discussions) is to ensure the student has addressed the main topic, and then begin to challenge what they think they know or their opinions. I give them additional information to consider, see if they are willing to change their minds or stick to your views. If they choose to maintain their viewpoints, I try again, altering the facts slightly to se if the student is now willing to change their minds when a reasonable person would make adjustments in their viewpoints.

When developing meaningful feedback for assignments/projects integrated into you’re my online course, the three most important things to remember? 1. The feedback should be addressing the rubric, what is intended to be learned in an assignment or task; 2. The feedback needs to be offered in a positive manner, encouraging students to learn from their mistakes and offer suggestions, illustrate how the performance can be improved; and 3. Offer suggestions on tips related to the assignment, if for example the assignment is a writing projects include suggestions that relate to deduction of points; grammar, lack of documentation of the paper, use of questionable sources, how t locate academic sources relevant to the assignment.

In teaching on-line my three biggest considerations will be: 1) Establishing the minimum standards for participation in discussions. 2) Encouraging students to participate, check back in at a later date and read other comments, even if they do not respond. 3) Encourage students to realize they can disagree with others, if you do then document the disagreement with sources that support your arguments, removing the mere opinion in a discussion or personal attacks.

For me, the three most important things to consider are: 1. Knowing the subject matter that is within your field of study. For example you may have a degree in criminal justice but lack the skills to teach in the legal courses, or you are an attorney but do not have the applied experience to teach classes on law enforcement, or corrections. 2. Continue to ask questions related to the topic, going beyond the existing parameters of the class discussion to include additional information or issues related to the assigned topic to perpetuate interest in the class discussion throughout the given time period. 3. Keeping then discussion on track, managing the class discussion to ensure an enhanced learning experience.

It's quite ironic that during my very first online teaching assignment (two years ago), I experienced one of my most challenging students in the online environment. This particular student I would classify as both a "noisy" as well as "disruptive" student. The course involved Human Resources Management and this particular student was very unhappy that she was required to take this class in conjunction with her degree program. In addition, she obviously had an axe to grind with some HR professional(s) earlier in her career. She openly share her position that HR Departments were a waste of time and that any supervisor or manager could complete the responsibilities that reside with most HR departments. Although I was never quite successful at helping this student openly accept the integral role that HR departments play for an employer, Iwas able to at least get the student to be more diplomatic in sharing her perspective.

I've taught in several online learning environments to include courses that require weekly live chats and those that do not. Although live chats are not included in grading rubrics, I have found that students who participate in live chats typically experience a much more enriching learning experience. Live chats also provide an opportunity for the instructor and student to develop rapport, once again providing the student with a more enriching experience.

One of the most important aspects of instructing an online course is to provide a comprehensive introduction of yourself to your class. If your university requires online chats, the first chat of each course is an excellent opportunity to provide an introduction of yourself as the instructor as well as review course expectations, late work policies, and recommendations as to how to be successful in the course. Students appreciate an instructor who is genuine in regards to their desire to see each student succeed in the classroom.

It wasn't that long ago that many educational institutions as well as employers were reluctant to recognize the quality of online degrees. In fact, many educational institutions were concerned that their "brand" would be watered down if they were to offer online degree programs in addition to their traditional campus-based programs. While serving as an online instructor for the past two years, it has been interesting to observe the significant increase in the number of colleges and universities that now offer online degree programs. In fact, practically every major university today now offers online degree programs. How do employers now view online degree programs? Do they recognize earned online degrees as being equal with traditional degrees?

I feel the Think Build Learn Success assignments are a great way for students to learn about themselves and find their inner strengths and weaknesses to work on.

I had never heard of the concept of a one minute essay that was presented in this class. This seems like a great thing to do after a live seminar, it would allow students to quickly reflect on what they have learned and what questions they have. Those students not able to attend live seminar would be able to watch the archive and complete one, this would have have the added benefit of showing they had indeed viewed the archive. Has anyone used these? Were they successful?

One very successful feedback method I have used with group projects is video feedback. I use a screen recorder such as jing.com to look at the groups assignment, this allows me to verbally point out good portions as well as portions in need of improvement. Students can see and hear the feedback and I can write notes on their document in live time. The response from students has been great they say it is the next best thing to being there in person. I must admit I only do this with group projects as it is fairly time consuming and to do it with each individual student seems overwhelming.

It is difficult to learn online as students don't have the opportunity to ask questions and get an instant response as they may face to face. I often strive to create VERY detailed instructions/expectations including a checklist of tasks that must be done for each assignment. The thing I struggle most with is getting students to READ these instructions. No matter how I share them, announcements, email etc it seems there are always some students who completely ignore the detailed instructions. Does anyone else find this? Do you have any tips or strategies to get students to make use of the resources available to them?

One thing that is very important when developing courses is to have a partner or colleague that you can touch base with. Sometimes the order of content or the way things are taught may make sense to you as an individual but may not to others. Having another author or eye on the course can help you combine different teaching methods and styles to reach as many students as possible. For example when developing a statistics course I worked with an individual who specialized in application of statistics in industry, and one who was more education based. That allowed for the combination of knowledge from the 'real world' as well as input on how to best teach these concepts from an educational standpoint.

Course content is more detailed and comprehensive in online course structure, it allows the instructor to break down pieces of information into small parts and sequence each part in such a way as to make sense to someone who is reading the information on line.

Hello - if you teach a more technical than esoterical subject, (math or accounting, or a medical topic -v- English or Humanities), what tips do you have to promote use of technology in the courseroom? Susan Miedzianowski

An online insturctor should be a mentor providing substantive and informative feedback, technology expert, and an architect.

Provide comprehensive nonetheless clear instructions of the intended purpose of the objective. Reassessment/after actions review.

I am curious to know if it is common that a class may need to be refined over and over as it is rolled out to the students. I can understand that the first few times through, there might be important revisions. But at what point should the class be "set?" That is...how many times through seems about right?

Technology must be user friendly to all participants; it should allow participants/contributors to leave permanent trace in the social and information space thus stimulating continuous feedback.

If a student shows disrespect to another student or the instructor in a discussion forum, would it be best to address the issue publicly on the forum so others can learn and see or privately send the person an e-mail, and then have them delete the comment, response etc.?