As indicated throughout this section, using multiple evaluation elements is the best way to decide on challenges in our courses, however I find that student evals are minimal in many cases. With a 20-30% (or lower) student eval rate it is hard to make course modifications as there is such a small percentage responding. If I see the same insights over several terms, changes may be made, however it is unfortunate that the students that do take the time to do their evals are in very diverse groups [that I have seen], they are the students who completely enjoyed being in the course or those that did not. Either way, few "middle-roaders" get involved so it is hard to base changes on this in a term by term basis. Has anyone discovered a sure fire way of getting students to fill out their evals?

Though we can learn about feedback and its different methods, the biggest challenge I face is that students do not read their feedback. On a regular basis I have students inbox me questions that have been responded to in my feedback. In the past, I would reiterate the feedback but then realized I was not teaching the students to use this valuable resource. My current response to students is, "Please refer to your feedback for detailed information regarding your grade. If you still have questions, after reviewing this important resource, please be specific in your question(s) when you write back.". This has worked best for me thus far, as students will write back and thank me for the referral to the feedback, however it has also backfired where students will accuse me of not wanted to answer their questions. Has anyone found a way, to ensure students are reviewing their feedback fully, that works for them?

This section brought confirmation to my first comment (Forum 1, "The Importance of Discussion in Online Classes) that there is a balance that the instructor must find [for each class] of being involved, without stifling the conversation by participating too much. It was nice to see that I am not alone in knowing that this can be challenging, however as the "Using Effective Communication" section in Forum 2 indicates, "Online discussions can fail because the instructor is not involved or because he/she is involved.". Seeing that I am not alone in this challenge, reinforces my method of basing interaction on the class/students which will vary from term to term. Has anyone tried asking students, as indicated in this section, to see what they choose as the most effective? How did that work for you?

It is important to have students interact via online discussion, however this requires two elements to make it work. First, you must have the instructor involved in helping the conversation move forward. Second, the instructor does not want to "take over" the conversation, but just be involved enough to move it forward by asking pointed questions and ensuring the class response. Though, as an instructor, I ask many questions in hopes of moving the conversation forward I find too many times only the student who began the conversation responds. Has anyone found a way to involve more than the original poster?

How many post are sufficient enough for a Discussion Board assignment ?

How do you lay out and enforce rules for adult learners?

How does anyone from the thread balance a fulltime teaching position and part time teaching position ?

Which workload strategies have anyone in the thread utilized successfully ?

I support my students learning experience with media such as recorded replies to my students which I then upload to a special You Tube movie Channel that I created specifically for this reason.

In the courses I teach I attempt to promote community and try to motivate students to learn HOW to think and not WHAT to think.

I prefer asynchronous mostly because a believe in the anytime, anywhere learning environment. Having taught onground for many years I must admit I miss the face to face contact.

I use screen capture often for recording demos. It's an easy way to demonstrate a process and share a desktop. I can even record it and upload it into YouTube to refer the students to.

Synchronous learning should supplement the asynchronous learning approach. However, most students do not like attending synchronous sessions such as chat sessions and office hours. How would you handle such scenario?

Which learning management system do you consider most popular and valuable? I understand that some schools have customized systems but Blackboard appears to be the industry gold standard. Do you agree? Why or why not.

I learned the hard way to not change a course based on a group of evaluations. It was my first year teaching and I did not understand the process of reviewing over a certain period what should and should not be changed. I had to learn about different learners and how they would assess a course. Finally, I learned you don't change everything if one thing is at issue.

I think it is good to have peer review and feedback. If an instructor does this it must be noted what the ground rules are. I have found people are kinder but thoughtful with their feedback. Students take it seriously.

I never heard this term used in education before. It makes sense students would build on what they have previously learned as they move forward. It is important the teacher has developed a program that makes it obvious to the student they are not learning something altogether new but taking their knowledge to the next step.

The testing and res=testing or assessing is so true when developing your online course. I also agree with keeping the look of certain online material consistent.

The review of content never ends. It is imperative as new technologies and new information come to light in our respective fields we must continue to update our methods. online there is information available at the touch of a button. If we are not keeping our materials up to date we will not be a viable resource to our students. As we review we can take the feedback given from the students and improve our delivery. This in turn perpetuates a constant movement to improve your content delivery and the institution, students, and instructors alike benefit from this constant revision.

the need to interact in the online environment is innate and imperative. To be present for the students as they need you to be is a challenge, so your feedback has got to be concise and encouraging. When a professor or instructor has the ability to see an individual in person feelings and emotions can be seen they can be a bit more caviler in their communication due to the ability to express emotion and non verbal communication. But in an online enviornemnt a statement can be made and taken out of context and if the student feels as they may have been disrespected or worse not taken seriously you loose the ability to reach these individuals. It is a challenge to convey exactly what is needed through computer communication, but as leaders of the classroom we must take it upon ourselves to understand how we are perceived.