In the case that you describe above, I don't think the teacher should wait for the student to ask for help--the teacher needs to go to the student. I think that is true regardless of the modality of instruction. Meaning, even if a teacher is teaching in a residential classroom, he/she should not wait until the student asks for help to reach out to thes student.
Thanks for your comments Shelly.
In addition to tutoring and learning center resources, as an instructor, I address problem areas in chats and course content that the particular students are experiencing. It has been useful to instruct on grammar and writing composition. It is often helpful talk about how students might break up the assignment into chunks so that they can be more successful.
Great suggestions Elissa. I strongly suggest that teachers take advantage of the services the institutions provide to help student succeed. Teachers don't have to do it alone!
Granville, I find that in the 5.5 week accelerated course I teach: Online College Experience; many students are enrolling in college without the basic skills to do so. From my point of view, I think it would be appropriate for a student to be assessed in basic computer skills before they began to take online classes. It saddens me to know that many high school students are graduating only to attend college and need an entire year of remedial courses. If it gets that far, I think it is up to university to lend some type of assistance to these students before it gets totally out of hand. I would like to know the solution; as you stated, what can we do?
I wish I had the answer to that question Julynn. In my state I have sat on a few boards that were sponsored by the department of education to try and answer this question. It is easy for higher education to point fingers at the K-12 school system but that doesn't correct the issue. It is frustrating for the students who come under prepared and for the instructors that have to try and "catch them up" as well as the parents of the students.
