Exploitative?

OK,
I've begun the other classes - you have to teach 2 sections of the same course at the same time - that means 40 students - in an effective essay writing course - It is day 2 and I already feel overwhelmed.

I feel VERY well prepared by the company to handle to technical aspects of how the interface works...

I feel very UNDER-PREPARED for keeping up - Yesterday, I spent at least 7 hours (I'm NOT kidding) trying to respond to everything I was supposed to respond to - Postings in several forums - getting students to check administrative stuff - have you downloaded the syllabus? - what is your contact info? - post your bio?

Today they have their first Discussion Question (DQ) due - They have to answer the question (for points that I have to determine) AND they have participation requirements - 2 substantive posts on 3 days... so what makes substantive? - they have guidelines... but MY role is to coach all 40 folks as to what that means AND get them through the content...AND keep track of grades AND give weekly feedback on everything AND feedback on assignments mid-week - AND keep daily office hours from 5-9 pm M-TH and 6-10 pm Sunday

I am intellectually intrigued by the challenge, however - Is it possible to coach 40 people in 9 weeks to write an effective essay without losing my mind...

They have given me a mentor for the 1st 4 weeks - so far he has shared some helpful docs and strategies - let's see how it goes and if I really learn anything or just get beaten up (for what comes to less than $6.00 per hour - tell me teachers aren't undervalued in this country....

I feel very exploited in a sense by this company and I would not do this again...

What makes it worthwhile? Reading their bios and hearing about their lives and dreams and the hopes they place in their education - leading to a better life....

All this and it's only day 2 - ugh!!!!!

Assisting Struggling Learners

OK, so what if someone is struggling in the course - At what time do you intervene? How much support is too much?

I have one student, who from the beginning, I thought - uh-oh, this person is going to run into trouble at some point... Let's call him John... John barely posted and from the limited tracking capability on this particular CMS, I could see that by mid-week, he hadn't even started the work... So I e-mailed saying that I had noticed that he hadn't begun the work yet and asked if he needed anything - help with time management, or understanding the flow of online vs F2F courses... He said he was OK and would catch up...

By week 4 and the first major set of graded items, things hadn't changed much for John - He was barely posting and by Sunday night (of the due date) at 8:30 pm, he hadn't begun any of the 4 hefty written assignments due that week.... So I thought, well, let's see what he can do at zero hour... I mean after all, this is adult ed - so people have to squeeze it in when they can...

Monday comes around and all assignments are posted... but disastrously... poorly done, incomplete, no evidence of synthesis or time devoted to the work...

So the e-mail with the scores goes out and a question to John - "Are you finding it difficult to find the time to do your assignments with the rigor needed to be successful?"

The classic answer comes back for online learning -

"I didn't think online learning would take this much time"

But other typical student responses for those not doing well were also there - "I didn't know there was all this work for Week 4 due" (when numerous e-mails with detailed instructions for completing the work AND opportunities to submit work early for feedback before the final submission) were sent at the beginning of the week... including the essay question and the rubric... This happened every week in the course - so he clearly wasn't reading the e-mails either.

So John was clearly under the common misconception that online learning was going to be a breeze - and now the rude awakening had arrived...

But this also brings up the age old question - why do some students (no matter the level - these are graduate students) not take advantage of supports available to them to be successful?

One big thing I think is the misconception about how easy online learning is...

The other is that people bite off more than they can chew... They over-schedule - over-plan and then they end up not being able to do everything in a meaningful way...

So I think this has to really be hammered home for students new to online learning - the work load involved and time demands and self-directed nature of the learning... If students who can't spend the time needed still opt to sign up for the course, then the only alternative is consequences for their actions through grades they will earn...

While part of me wants to support, remind, prompt, cajole students to get the work done and do it in a meaningful fashion... if students don't step up to the plate, there isn't much I can do - or want to do at some point in the process...

One other final thought - In this CMS, I have only e-mail to send out the weekly reminders - maybe an audio or video message might reach more people? - Or would it be one more effort on my part - overkill for those who get it and still ignored by those who can't get to it anyway?

Of the 10 people in this class, only 1 is struggling below acceptable level... and 9 are new to online learning - so I have to think that some of the supports have been helpful to their success working online - but more is probably due to their own internal motivation and aptitude - they probably excel at everything... or maybe somewhere in between... A survey at the end should reveal more. A request for mid-term feedback didn't return much info... so no news is good news I suspect...

Getting Over the Hump

OK, We just are finishing up Week 4 of an 8 week class which has a metacognitive paper due after teh class finishes (worth 40%) and I'm starting to think about the role of feedback in motivating people, in keeping everyone on track, in getting folks up to speed with expectations, and in establishing a real presence in the online forum..

One of my pet peeves as a student in online classes has been absentee faculty members who treat the course almost as a self-study course - and at the graduate level, I have often said that feedback is critical - that is where the learning happens - without this, I am just talking to myself basically, so how can I grow or be stretched without that outside, more experienced voice calling me to move forward...

So now that I am in the driver's seat I have to laugh, because the temptation is there to not do as diligent a time as I know I should with feedback because it takes so bloody long... but then I hear my own voice scolding me and so far, I've been able to keep going - because I really believe it is true that feedback is critical... so it becomes a matter of integrity - if I believe it, then I need to toe the line and do it!

Where I am struggling with feedback right now is my next growing edge... I feel I am doing a good job responding to them in discussions, and in their learning logs... I am pulling out the major contributions and points, reiterating them and continuing the conversation, in a sense, with what they have written, adding my own thoughts and related experiences... What I haven't yet been able to do is spot the place where they don't get it and draw them forward - This might be because I am not as familiar with the content as I'd like to be - so I wonder if the next time around will be better in this aspect -I'd like to find some resources on facilitation and online feedback that might also give me some ideas.