An instructor needs to communicate with students frequently, provide substantive feedback, and communicate well with technology. The instructor should be an active participant, bring their own experiences to the discussion, do not dominate a discussion, or let a few students dominate it, challenge students without silencing them, and paraphrase a message if it is not clear. At a minimum, the teacher should include instruction on netiquette. Netiquette, which is short for Internet etiquette, is most important. It involves civility or politeness, professionalism, courtesy, respect, consideration, and good manners. Netiquette includes rules for all aspects of the Internet, including the World… >>>

I teach math classes that involve many tutorial math videos. From showing how to solve equations to using excel the videos are a powerful way to reach students when you cannot be there yourself. However I find just hosting these on youtube means the students don't use them, they don't want to sort through dozens of videos. Instead I have been sorting them all using a live binder, this free Web site allows you to sort things into categories (for shorter classes I tend to do each week) and place just the videos there for that week, then they can… >>>

Since the University does not provide student ages, it’s difficult to identify student generation. I always include an introductions thread and sometimes students share some information that allows me to make a guess as to the age of the student. Also when reading students discussion participation and research papers I tend to get an idea as to the age of the student. This information becomes part of a spreadsheet that I create before the start of the course (i.e. student name, email, phone (if available), guessed age, level of course participation, comments (i.e. needs increasing discussion participation, always late with… >>>

Once I make a commitment to facilitate online course, I am committed to 7-day course presence. I am an early person so my interaction is usually in the morning—I make sure to tell students. One way I interact with students is through the discussion threads. I usually take the initiative to start contributing to the discussions on Sundays (lessons starts on Mondays). I do not respond to each post students make, but rather every other post along with posting questions related course subject matter being discussed that week. Would be interested to know your approach to course discussions; what is… >>>