Irina Koyfman

Good, detailed instructions in the syllabus are the key to good online communication.

Consitency is the key!

Two possible ways of handling noisy learners in an asynchronous setting are:

1. Send an e-mail to the learner advising him or her to remain on the existing thread until it is exhausted.
2. Provide some personal attention by making a special request for the learner to provide some specific input into the discussion. If the learner continues to surf around, steer him or her back into the mainstream of the discussion.

There are four major disadvantages to using synchronous discussions to teach critical course content.

1. Scheduling students across different time-zones or who work shifts could be a real challenge.
2. The text on chat screens advance rapidly, thereby having a negative impact on slow readers.
3. Analyzing and summarizing individual student input to chat sessions could also be a real challenge.
4. Last but certainly not least- fast typists are likely to dominate the chat session.

Four popular and effective ways of projecting your presence in an e-learning environment are:

• Initiate, lead, monitor, and manage synchronous discussion sessions.
• Oversee team projects.
• Participate in asynchronous discussion forums by offering your response to the discussion question and sharing with all participants a summary of their contributions.
• Answer student queries and provide informative and constructive feedback in a timely manner. A 24- hour turnaround time is generally acceptable.

Being prepared and making sure tha the instructor knows everything about hte course is important. Lerning objectives should be in the begining and the end. 

Do what you love and love what you do. 

show the students not how smart you are, but how much you love what you do.