I think there are a few things Trinh can do in her situation. The first thing I can suggest is that she make a forum on Blackboard where questions can be asked publicly, such as seen in our course. This way, if other students have the same question, they can refer to the relevant forum discussion. This will decrease some of the duplicated emails. Also I think she should be clear how she wants students to communicate with her so she does not have to check in so many places. She could encourage her students to use the forum unless its something they don’t want publicly posted, in which case she should give them ONE personal way of contacting her, such as her university email.
My second suggestion would be to use a live chat at the end of each guest lecture live-stream. I have participated in some live stream lectures with chat capability, which I found useful to clarify material or ask a question. This way the guest can answer some questions, taking some of the workload off of Trinh.
My third suggestion is to hold office hours where students ask questions via chat. Kind of like our Collaborate session over the weekend. She could also do it by video or audio but that might get a little crowded. She can then post the chat content so others can also look at it for reference. If students know there are office hours and it is convenient for them to ask questions during this time, it might decrease the number of emails she will receive.
Hi Momoe,
Great suggestions on providing clear guidelines on the manner her students should reach her. I also suggested holding office hours, yet I wondered how to arrange them considering that the students are located in very different time zones. Would you suggest a single set of office hourse for everyone (easier for Trinh yet might be chaotic), 1 per group or one per location? I would love to have your thoughts on the matter.
Thank you
I think it would depend on what Trinh was able to offer. If this were me, I would try to offer two office hours during the week; one early in the morning and one later in the afternoon. Hopefully you can catch a lot of people this way. And there’s always asynchronous methods like a forum or email that could be used when these office hours are inconvenient. But hopefully using this method is more efficient than her current methods.
Hi Momoe, that is a great idea. Setting aside two office hours during the week would definitely reach more students while alleviating the potential of having all of her students show up at the same time. Thank you again for answering.