- What looks problematic to you in this case?
Trinh faces a variety of challenges within this case. The most problematic challenge that appears is the communication issue. Trinh has far to many methods for students to communicate with her. As others have already suggested forwarding options that send all communication to one specific email would make a world of difference. When I think back to my first looks at technology integration and communication formats, I had multiple methods of students communicating with me. There were numerous instances where I missed communication be it from parents (I teach Elementary) or from students who were seeking support. Since these times, I have all communication formats funnelled to my work email. My students can send messages through the GEDU accounts or can access the class blog to send a message to me. Either way, I receive them in my work email, ensuring I am able to respond as soon as possible.
A second challenge that Trinh faces is the learner centered approach that she looks to establish in her instructional methods. I have had numerous discussions within our school district with our distance education educators and they say that the number one challenge they face is the asynchronous environment that can be online learning. While I can see the challenges that they face in our district, I can imagine that Trinh would see this as even more challenging given the time zone differences and the language barriers that may exist given the wide range of countries who have students enrolled.
A third challenge is the neglect on the part of the university to adequately fund the the course with either a teaching assistant or another instructor. Add to this the 150 students who may require her support in one way, shape, or manner over the course of the week, and one might argue that Trinh is going to feel overwhelmed with the workload. I wonder if Trinh feels pressure to teach the course given that it would cover half of her annual teaching workload for the year. In a research based university, she might see this as an opportunity to have more time to conduct her research, and the university might see it as a bit of a ‘dangled carrot’.
- Who are the stakeholders in this case, what has been done and what has not been done well by some of them?
I think that the stakeholders in this case are the university, the instructor, and her students, although I think that this might be in the wrong order. Are the students learning needs being put at the forefront in this case? I would argue that they are secondary to the university’s lack of funding in place of a large cohort of students under the tutelage of an overworked instructor. Simply put, the university needs to properly provide the support that Trinh would need to keep up with the synchronous and asynchronous demand that would be felt in a course of this size.
- What you think Trinh should do differently to avoid getting in situation like this?
Trinh as the leader in the course and the one who is not only delivering content and providing feedback to her students needs to step up and set up some expectations that she would have of the university providing the ability to deliver the course in a manageable manner.
- What has to be done and by whom, so that Trinh could again be able teaching her course using learner centered instruction methods?
First, the university needs to step up and adequately provide for the needs of the instructor in this course. Secondly, is there a better management system that is available to Trinh that will afford her with a single space for communication and opportunities for greater ease in asynchronous learning opportunities.