E-Learning For Educators - Moodle Modules 3 & 4

Netiquette - A neglected, sometimes omitted rule of online learning.

by Lara Aworunse - Sunday, 6 September 2015, 8:55 PM

Is evident from our discussion last week, that an online discussion can disintegrate into a tangled web of
inconsiderable behavior, that can disrupt a discussion forum. As a facilitator, which and what strategies
will you adopt to ensure students comply with established online netiquette? Share two to three netiquette
rules to include in the guidelines for this course and state the rationale for these rules.

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Flaming and Misdirection -

By xxxxxxxx - Monday, 7 September 2015, 5:22 PM

Discussion Week 3 xxxxxxxxxxxxx

As discussions progress, sometimes students can go off on tangents or start to wander from the
discussion topic. Most of the time, I would like to believe that these disruptions to the discussion arent
purposely designed to distract from the topic. Sometimes people start sharing personal stories or
experiences and the discussion can just start to travel down a different path. Our instructor for this e-
learning class has provided students with The Kitchen, which is a discussion forum designed to allow for
sharing of information between students that can cover any topic of choice. I personally have never felt
that a classmate was personally sabotaging the discussion forum, but I can imagine that this can be
problematic in certain situations.

Palloff and Pratt (2013), talk about some behaviors that could develop from students that may not be
succeeding in the online environment. The authors talk about flaming, which refers to when a student
may be confused or frustrated with some aspect of the course and this may result in the student
expressing negative or misdirected emotions in the discussion board. They also discuss instances where
students may take over a discussion board inappropriately and become disruptive to the online
environment. Palloff and Pratt recommend addressing this in a very direct way with the student. The
student may need to be contacted directly, and the instructor needs to carefully monitor the discussion
board to watch the direction of the conversations. If the discussion forum seems to be taking an
undesirable direction, the instructor can facilitate returning to the topic by asking some additional
questions that may get the discussion back on track. Unresolved issues with student who may be
causing conflict on the discussion boards can ultimately lead to limited participation by students within the
course. Pallof and Pratt (2013), state that Nothing stifles good participation in an online course like
unresolved conflict. Just as in the face-to-face classroom, if a student is acting out, other students may
fear becoming the object of that students negative attention and will withdraw from active participation
(p. 150). The instructor has a responsibility to watch for these issues and step in early to avoid potential
problems.

The two netiquette rules that I feel are important are as follows:

1. Respect the opinions of other classmates. While we know that not all people agree, part of
the learning process stems from hearing alternative views of others.
 2. Use all capitals and punctuation carefully. Using all capital letters implies that someone is
angry or yelling. One should never insult a classmate or insult the ideas of a classmate.
References

Palloff & Pratt, 2013. Lessons from the virtual classroom: The realities of online teaching 2nd ed. SanFrancisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.

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Re: Point Deduction System as a deterrent.

by Lara Aworunse - Wednesday, 9 September 2015, 9:49 AM

Great point about flaming xxxx. Yes, in online environment, discussions might take an undesirable
path and I definitely agreed that the facilitator should carefully monitor and help the students refocus on
the main issue by asking open ended questions. What is your opinion about letting students know at the
beginning of the course, points that will be deducted for not adhering to the course netiquette policy or
rule?

Lara

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Re: Point Deduction System as a deterrent.

By xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - Wednesday, 9 September 2015, 2:20 PM

I think that may be an option as long as the expectations are very clear. You wouldn't want to "scare"
people from feeling free to post if they were fearful of losing points. Sometimes conversations naturally
take a turn, but hopefully an attentive instructor could recognize that and get them going in the right
direction again.

XXXXXX

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Re: Point Deduction System as a deterrent.

by Lara Aworunse - Wednesday, 9 September 2015, 6:17 PM

I thought about student being extremely careful to the point of avoiding the discussion board using the
point deduction system. Thanks for your input xxxxx.

Lara

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Re: Quality versus quantity
By xxxxxxxxxxxx - Monday, 7 September 2015, 6:19 PM

Lara,

As a facilitator, I must be continually engaged in the discussions and keeping everyone on track and
monitoring netiquette. I am not real familiar with any specific strategy other than redirecting the discussion
if things start to verve too far off topic or become inappropriate.

With the readings last week I read a great infographic with a list of 10 great suggestions. However, I feel
my biggest netiquette rule to follow is quality versus quantity.Based on a persons level of
communication, some posting may be relatively short and concise. I actually prefer to read a well-
constructed, short response. Long, wordy discussions tend to make me drift off and forget about the
quesiton at hand.

My second netiquette suggestion is to keep sarcasm out of postings. Sarcasm can be difficult for some
people to identify in a face to face setting so this should really stay out of a posting.

XXXXX

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Re: Sarcasm and Humor

by Lara Aworunse - Wednesday, 9 September 2015, 10:17 AM

XXXXXX

I found your second netiquette suggestion to be one of the most important rule since online learning is
growing to include students of diverse origin. Sarcasm and sometimes humor is very difficult in online
learning environment, because the internet is free of emotion. The absence of visual cues made it hard to
judge body language and tone of voice.

I love the favorite saying of one of my online instructor, "There is a real person with feelings at the other
end. Avoid sarcasm and use emoticons appropriately. If you are angry, stay away from computer
keyboard. Stop, Think and Wait 24hours before posting"

Lara.

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Re: Quality versus quantity

By xxxxxxxxxxxx- Wednesday, 9 September 2015, 2:22 PM

I also appreciate your rule about quality or quantity. Sometimes it is difficult to read very lengthy posts.

In addition, not everyone has the same sense of humor, so your rule about sarcasm is really important.
We don't want anything to interpret something wrong and get offended.

XXXXXX
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Re: Netiquette - A neglected, sometimes omitted rule of online learning.

By xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Monday, 7 September 2015, 9:34 PM

Lara

A facilitator needs to set ground rules for proper netiquette. If there is enough time, students should help
develop these ground rules. If after prompting and an important ground rule hasnt been added the
facilitator may add the rule. Students need to feel safe in order to contribute in the discussions. Some
good rules to help accomplish that would be:

1. Listen actively when others are saying

2. Speak from your own experience
3. Participate to the fullest, growth depends on everyones voice
4. Refrain from personal attacks, focus on ideas
5. Try to find a deeper understanding
6. Be conscious that emotions dont transfer well in text. Clarify your meaning
XXXX

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Re: Collaboration
by Lara Aworunse - Tuesday, 8 September 2015, 7:23 PM

XXXX, you made a great point that the facilitator needs to set the ground rule. What do you think about
students coming up with suggested rules?, and the facilitator work with the students in pinning all the
suggested rules together.

Lara

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Re: Collaboration
By xxxxxxxxx - Tuesday, 8 September 2015, 9:18 PM

I think thats a great idea, Lara. In that way they have ownership of the rules!

XXXX

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Student input
By xxxxxxxxxxx - Thursday, 10 September 2015, 7:23 PM

I also like the idea of having students give ideas for ground rules. Obviously, the instructor/facilitator has
the final call on the rules, but giving the students input and ownership could significantly improve
participation and compliance.
XXXXX

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Lara- Student Rules

By xxxxxxxxxxx- Thursday, 10 September 2015, 11:32 AM

I plan to use your suggestion about students assisting in forming the ground rules for class netiquette.
Because so many of them already have a significant online presence, they probably know some rude
behaviors people manifest online that they can help incorporate into an online netiquette guidelines page
(the "don'ts" section, of course!).

Also, we as instructors know that when students are allowed to make the rules, they own them and are
much more willing to follow them.

Great idea!

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Re: Collaboration
By xxxxxxxxx- Thursday, 10 September 2015, 8:02 PM

Hi, Lara, I love your idea for the group building the ground rules of netiquette together!

In our assessments class with Jim Erbe, during the first module we created a wiki where everyone
contributed their ideas to this wiki structure about rules for netiquette. We could use different colors and
fonts and edit them later. We also had to sign in and sign our names on each entry to participate. We
could even change what others had written as long as we signed to the changes. We used a free wiki
program called PBWorks and it was great - simple and straightforward, yet complex enough to be
interesting! This article from Internet Techies is about 10 other free wiki programs. By the end of our
process, which lasted weeks, we had a long online list of colorful and creative classroom rules of
netiquette.

I love wikis. They are an ideal collaborative tool with which to build - and build ownership of (as you were
saying, xxxxx, xxxx, xxxxx, and Lara) - all sorts of classroom systems - the sky truly is the limit! We built a
very beautiful netiquette wiki which I really wish I had taken a picture of!

Thanks, Lara, for facilitating such an open and interesting discussion.

XXXX

Mishra, S. 10 Free Wiki Software Platforms or Wiki Engines. Internet Techies. Retrieved 9/10/15 at
http://www.clickonf5.org/7599/10-free-opensource-wiki-software-engine/.

PBWorks free online wiki program. Retrieved 9/10/15 at http://www.pbworks.com/.

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Re: Netiquette - A neglected, sometimes omitted rule of online learning.
By xxxxxxx- Tuesday, 8 September 2015, 8:01 PM

Hi, Green Group! I am participating as a student for these Moodle modules and, Lara, I wonder if you
would mind if I contribute one little netiquette rule? It's my favorite; I call it the Golden Rule of Netiquette:
Post unto others as you would have them post unto you.

Thank you for the opportunity to post it! I am enjoying all your discussions very much. xxxx

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Re: Cyber Citizen - Are you a good one?

by Lara Aworunse - Wednesday, 9 September 2015, 9:51 AM

Hi Green Team,

Allow me to share this link with you Test your cyber/netiquette behavior. Are you a good cyber
citizen? Take this short animated
quiz.http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/funStuff/netiquette/netiquette.html

Lara

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Cyber Citizen - Fun Quiz for Kids. Fun to do and fun to create!
By xxxxxxxxxxxx- Wednesday, 9 September 2015, 9:57 AM

This was a fun quiz, Lara. I think kids would have fun doing it, too, if I as an adult did! Wouldn't it be fun
to create such a quiz? The colors and interactivity and characters - the comic book style - make it a very
attractive learning tool about netiquette. I'd love to learn how to create quizzes as games, like this.

XXXX

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Re: Cyber Citizen - Fun Quiz for Kids. Fun to do and fun to create!
By xxxxxxxxx - Wednesday, 9 September 2015, 7:24 PM

XXXX,

Check out Articulate Storyline. It is loaded with awesome templates to use but finding the time to do all of
that is a problem. Have you heard of Storyline?

XXXXX
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Re: Cyber Citizen - Fun Quiz for Kids. Fun to do and fun to create!
By xxxxxxxxxx- Friday, 11 September 2015, 6:30 PM

Thank you, xxxxx. I have heard of it but not too much about it, but I believe it's right up my alley; so
thanks very much for the idea. I'll put it in my notes for this class for handy reference!

XXXX

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Netiquette Ideas
by xxxxxxxxxxxx - Thursday, 10 September 2015, 11:28 AM

Lara- So many good suggestions and considerations have come from your discussion question. Thanks
for bringing it up.

I have an idea as a facilitator. I'm thinking an instructor could build some key netiquette rules into their
rubrics, so students would either be graded on their use of netiquette, or grade themselves when using a
self-grading rubric.

I'd be sure to include:

"Did you say something positive in your responses?" (perhaps they have to write down a couple
examples.)

"If you had another viewpoint, how did you respectfully disagree?" (example[s] shown)

The rationale behind this suggestion is that the student, not the facilitator, would be monitoring their
netiquette.

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Re: Netiquette Ideas

by Lara Aworunse - Thursday, 10 September 2015, 10:44 PM

Great idea xxxxx. Including netiquette in the grading system would probably help in adhering to the rules.
At the same time you want students to freely participate in online discussion.

Lara

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