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.

A Hip, New Blackboard

Today brought the long-awaited release of the much hyped Blackboard 9. According to Inside Higher Ed, early reviewers are impressed with its snazzier, cleaner look and easily-modified login pages. This version also allows those who loathe change to choose different looks instead, such as older versions of Blackboard and the clunky WebCT templates (these are starting to seem almost retro now). Also - cool changes in the interface itself, allowing course designers to click and drag elements around on the page. What I like most, though, is the integration with social tools, such as FaceBook - students can get reminders of test and assignment due dates at their favorite social sites without entering Blackboard. Blackboard 9 would probably be the most exciting new technology I've seen all week if my husband hadn't come home with a Wii Fit the other day.

Fun Idea for Posting Instructor Photo in Online Course

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the importance of instructors putting their photos in their online course. Now it's probably better to have it up there in the beginning of the course, but here's a neat idea that I've done before if you want to wait a couple of weeks into the course. Post four pictures - one of yourself and three of other people who look quite different from you. Let students guess, based on what they've gleaned from your interactions, which one is the real you. In my experience, only about 15 percent picked the real me, and it was a bit of a fun time for all. Fun is always good.

Why Didn't I Think of This?: Student Teachers in Virtual High School

There's needs to be a new word like maybe jealyspired to describe how one feels when they read about something so good and so cool that they actually feel totally inspired but also jealous about not being The One to think of it. That's how I feel about what University of Central Florida and Florida Virtual High School are doing. UCF's student teachers will spend seven weeks of their student teaching in the online classroom. The implications are really big on this one, and to be honest, this isn't the first time I've been jealyspired by UCF or FVHS.

The Watchful Proctor (Now Isn't That Redundant?)

The other day I was asked how to keep students taking online tests in a proctored test site from opening other browsers and looking for the answers. Wait.....isn't that the point of the proctor? So maybe we need lock-down software in situations where there is no proctor, but if the proctor is a real, live person then he or she should clearly be able to tell whether or not a student is opening multiple browsers when taking an online test. This assumes, of course, that the proctor is really watching. That he or she is on premises and is paying attention to his or her proctorees. Of course we don't have guarantees of this watchfulness - but neither do we in the face-to-face classroom. The point (again) is that it's really no easier to cheat in front of a Dell computer in 2009 than it was on row 7 of the lecture hall in 1979.

Five Quick Ways to Get Better Online Teaching Evaluations

One fear that instructors have is that their teaching evaluations, and thus their prospects for promotion and tenure, will head south when they start teaching online. Not the good south in the beaches-of-Miami way, but the ugly one. This fear is well-founded as we often hear depressing stories of once-loved classroom teaching stars bathed in criticism and contempt after their first online teaching foray. No need to despair - here's five small changes instructors can make to lead to happier evaluations.

1. Always, always answer student emails within 24 hours. Just one slip, one late day, and your evaluation from that student will fall precisely 20 percent (this exact statistical calculation is based on my personal experience and occasional failure to follow this rule).
2. Speaking of rules, be a little more flexible about student deadlines and rules. Making exceptions, being understanding, and nice has its rewards. And smile when you make exceptions, even if nobody can see you.
3. Let them know you as a person, not just an information-dispenser/course guide. Tell them about your weekend, your seven cats, your allergy to corkscrew-shaped pasta, the musical Eiffel Tower bookends you bought for 50 percent off at Target yesterday, your obsession with Newhart reruns, whatever. Tell them something about you every week, and include pictures and audio sometimes. And be funny sometimes.
4. Do an informal formative evaluation midway through the term, and actually make some changes based on the results. Tell them the overall results of the evaluation and the changes you are making.
5. Increase the amount of personal feedback you are giving - go beyond the blanket stuff to the whole class. Yes, this one is actually not so quick.