Four Rules for Facebook Friendships with Students

It seems like just a mere year or so ago, I thought that never in a zillion years would I befriend any of my students on Facebook, for fear that I would seem like one of those middle-aged-people-in-denial who frequents bars for 20-somethings, or worse - simply "creepy." Now, even in my relatively sparse use of Facebook, I've been amazed, first-hand, at its sheer power and force at breaking down social barriers and building or rebuilding relationships (ex: my 7th-grade best friend whom I probably would have never happened to cross paths with again is now my Facebook friend, among others). Now, one of THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES in the online classroom is clearly building a sense of community, creating a personal environment, feeling truly connected, blah,blah, blah. So, with so many folks on Facebook (and over 1200 more have joined since I started writing this just a few minutes ag0), the question of whether or not to integrate it somehow with online teaching is no longer if - but when. To reduce my worries about privacy, appropriateness, etc., I've made myself a little list of Facebook rules.

1. Be real, but not overly revealing. This means no heavy political banter, no off-color remarks, and a careful eye for embarassing photos from the long-ago past, posted by friends and "tagged" to me. Revealing too much is just like going to a company cocktail party and drinking too much and thus saying too much - except that on Facebook it might be there forever.
2. Make it useful and efficient. If I'm going to put some time into Facebook each week, I might as well multi-task. Use it for some virtual office hours and pre-exam study sessions.
3. Protect your privacy. Leave off the home address and make sure that Facebook settings are such that profiles, postings are not available to those beyond the "friend" list.
4. Make sure it's optional for students. Most students are going to be on Facebook. But some are not, and do not want to be - or maybe they are and they just don't want to be your "friend." They must feel no disadvantage whatsoever for this choice.

Advice from Students: How to Succeed in an Online Class

One of my areas of passion is online retention - so I've talked to a lot of students (both informally and through research) in trying to see why some succeed where others fail. Interestingly, when talking to students who withdrew from online courses, I've realized that reasons were rarely related to instructor issues. More often than not, the students did not fully realize what taking an online course would be like. Their advice to other students:

1. Understand that you will spend a lot of time on the computer.
2. Log in to your online course every day.
3. Expect to do a lot of reading - probably more than in a f2f course.
4. Know where to go for help, and don't hesitate to ask for it.
5. Get started on the course as soon as possible - log in on the very first day of class.
6. Don't wait until the due dates to post discussion assignments.

I use these tips, and variations of them, in both online and f2f orientations for online students. Yes, they may seem quite elementary to those of us who teach, support or otherwise breathe online learning, but now I realize that we can't overestimate how critical it is for new online students to know what to expect before their courses start.