Poor Trinh! She has let the methods of communication get out of control and now she is feeling overwhelmed. Just as a f2f teacher might find themselves overwhelmed with classroom management issues, Trinh needs to better organize her class so that her workload becomes manageable. Anderson, Archer, and Garrison (1999) refer to this as instructional management. It is also worthy to mention that while Trinh says that she believes in learner-centered classes, by having students immediately contact her with questions and inquiries, she is setting up a very teacher-centered class and thusly overwhelming herself.
She needs to streamline communication so that it becomes manageable for her. Perhaps she should use the blackboard platform to create a help needed discussion board, or one for questions. There students could post questions and answer them for each other, then Trinh could help if needed. This would eliminate repeated questions as well. These discussion boards would go far in creating a community of inquiry.
Another option, though not one I would personally like, would be to set up online office hours, perhaps a once or twice weekly google hangout that students could join. She could have them at different times so that all students could attend despite their time zone. The students already log on for live lectures so this would not be asking too much.
Anderson, Archer, and Garrison state that “student activity is influenced by tutor behavior” (2000). Therefore it would seem that a more visible teacher presence would create a learning environment where students approach topics with more depth and a higher level of critical inquiry. Therefore by increasing the visibility of her contributions via a discussion board or an online conference Trinh would be helping to guide thinking and analysis and indeed learning to a higher level.
In creating these options, she could also specify on the homepage ways to get in touch, with email being explicitly stated as a last resort. The changes I suggest will not only help to Trinh to create a more manageable workload, but will serve her to create the more learner-centered class she desires.
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105. Retrieved from http://www.anitacrawley.net/Articles/GarrisonAndersonArcher2000.pdf