What Could Trinh do?
There have been many great ideas in posts that precede this one. As I share my thoughts, I am certain that many, if not all, of my ideas will have been mentioned beforehand.
To begin to deal with the onslaught of emails, Trinh should consider the following 10 points in no particular order:
1. My initial thought was that Trinh needed a teaching assistant or e-moderator who could field the questions coming through email. It is important to note that “the e-moderator does not require extensive subject matter expertise” but only needs to be at the “same level” as the students (Anderson, 2008).
2. This led to me thinking that Trinh could place more of an emphasis on collaboration among students and even give marks for student involvement. In ETEC 500, my classmates were great for not only critiquing others work, but also chiming in and answering course related questions. Trinh would need to foster this type of environment and “set and communicate the intellectual climate of the course” (Anderson, 2008).
3. I know how much I appreciated our Wimba session, as well as chat meetings of the past where the instructor was involved. In ETEC 531, the instructor lead the first session and then expected students to take the reigns. I gladly stepped up the plate the first time and it was a good exercise to be in charge of the discussion. This collaboration and participation could be held bi-weekly, either as chat only or mixed in with voice.
4. I think Trinh needs to create different discussion threads that touch on specific situations. These sections could be build up more and more as the course is taught; Trinh would need to make notes and keep track of what new topics arise.
5. Similarly, Trinh should have a growing list of FAQ’s that should be a go-to-first location for students.
6. Trinh definitely needs to have one location for communication.and make that clear to the students.
7. Expectations need to be clearly laid out and conveyed.
8. The more organized the course is the less confusion and the less questions and email there will be. Trinh needs to put time into making the course linear and easy to understand.
9. The 150 students need to be placed into sub-groups. My ETEC 511 class did not put the discussion thread into groups and so each day there were 100+ posts to sift through. It really makes a difference when there are only groups of 30 instead of 150. Too small is not good either as I am currently in a course where all discussions are with groups of 4 or 5. I find that I always initiate and can wait day before hearing any kind of a reply.
10. Trinh would be wise to conduct a student survey asking about the course and the instruction. Any input would only help Trinh better meet the needs of future students.
References
Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a Theory of Online Learning. In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University. Accessed online 20 June 2011
http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008_Anderson-Online_Learning.pdf
Salmon, G. (2000). E-moderating: The key to teaching and learning online. London: Kogan Page.