I feel that to keep the students attention, ones vocal presentation should be clear and concise. The instructor needs to keep the students attention on the subject matter. And if the student is not "captured" by the presenter, they become bored and lose interest.

As a new online instructor, I feel that it very important that one is comfortable with the applicaitons that available for the student as well as the instructor.

One of the points in this module was very intriguing to me. I find myself still thinking about a way to accomplish it, but am unable and am interested in hearing from the experienced online instructors. In the module, it mentioned having a backup method of receiving assignments when technical difficulties exist (I read this to mean they can not send the assigment electronically). My first inclination was that the student can mail it, but there has to be better solutions out there. What have you all done to resolve this issue?

According to the course material, asynchronous discussions tend to be "more deliberate and detailed" than typical instructor-led discussion. This isn't always the case -- looking at the discussions for this course, for example, entries typically are very brief and are asking questions of Satrohan. As instructors, we need to consider what aspects of course design encourage asynchronous discussions and when it is important for learning. In this class, we are required to participate in the discussion for at least one module -- that means that there will likely be less participation than if we were required to participate in all modules. Students can start the course at any time -- so we may be more dependent on the instructor for responses than we would be in an online class with fixed start and end dates. So what instructional designs encourage more indepth online discussions? Assigning discussion topics for online discussion? Grading the online discussion and providing a scoring rubric up front?

Hi Everybody, I think we all know that most of us think faster than we type. As a result, many people - myself included - make grammatical errors in their postings. Since we represent the school, and we are the facilitators of the classes, it is critically important for us to ensure that our posts are accurate. Otherwise, it is more difficult to provide feedback to students about their grammatical errors. Thoughts??? Thanks!

I have been a part of classes with students that tend to dominate the learning environment. How do you discipline a (know it all) student in a nice way?

With on-line courses becoming more popular, how do you encourage the inter-student exchanges that happens freely (and at times spiritly) in a traditional classroom setting to occur in on-line courses? What techniques and styles have been found to be successful in allowing the student to learn more than the course content and learn from the fellow student experiences (the how-to-apply the course concepts in the real world)?

Does the instructor need to research to see what will need to be taught asynchronous or synchronous? I think so because I like to bring in 'real world' scenarios. I would introduce this material in a synchronous (chat) session.

I think of biographies as being the icebreaker for the class. What do you think?

Is success in online learning based on the instructor or student? Please list reasons for answer.

I was really interested in this module because It will not only help me with the on-line course but with my classes I teach at the college. Pointers on how to bring in students into the conversation and group participation is a great way of assisting shy student to feel that they are involved and important. Assigning threaded discussions on-line as a grade makes the students get involved even if they want to make a good grade. I feel that I learned a lot of great ways to manage my on-line classes in this course.

Question: Do you think all online programs should include some sort of mandatory student feedback, where the students can rate the interactivity of the program and give suggestions?

We're a private trade school, so as part of our online enrollment process, our students fill out a series of skill surveys. This gives a good foundational background on our students before they even begin the program. We've found that this really helps -- when the student starts the program, we already know their skills, attributes, qualifications, previous professional experience and their career goals. The students seem to feel more engaged since we've refined this process, and more open to conversing with the online instructors. It also gives us a chance to help them create their resumes, if they have a need.

Its imperative to keep open and postive communication between student and instructor

I personally send each student an email prior to the start of their course with me to introduce myself and set the groud work. I end with telling them I look forward to having them fo the next xxxamount of weeks and for them to successfully complete the course.

In the classes that I have been teaching lately, I have had about 20 to 25 students. And usually in every class about 5 to 8 don't participate or start to but then I don't get anything else from them. What would be you suggestions on how to get them more involved? Usually at the end of the first week of class I send a little note to them if I see that they have not participated yet, but it doesn't seem to work for everyone. Should I continue to sending notes each week to a student that has not been participating?

When a student first enters a class they are very eager to learn but sometimes as the course progresses some students seem to become distracted. Sometimes this is due personal problems that interfer with class room paticipation. As the instructor how do we encourage and motivate the student to get them back on track?

In my communication course there are numerous opportunities to make practical allpications to current events. For example, almost everyone has an opinion about the presidential election (either a favorite candidate or the process itself)... Students suddenly realize that the theoretical constructs have become concrete, and that their discussions and arguments are more cogent than before they took the course. It's a great opportunity for "aha!" moments...

For me to support my students in every aspect of the class is extremly important now only from a teachers propective but also a students. They need to know that they have different avenues to go to

I think it's important to stress right from the start of the very first week that as instructors we are here for the students and want to support them. They should email, call, chat, whatever us whenever they are struggling. This is why we teach. If they don't learn, we aren't doing our jobs. I think it's important to students to understand that they aren't "bothering" us when they contact us. Weekly reminders of this might really serve students well.