Choose one of the problems. As an online instructor, how can you be proactive in making sure that the problem does not occur within the classroom? Make sure to thoroughly explain the problem and the proactive solution that you would use.
I've encountered student behavior issues within my online course with at risk students in another state. These students were in a recovery program being held in a church. There was a non-teacher facilitator of the students who was in the room but wasn't a certified teacher. The class contained about 15 boys who were taking the same classes, online, together. As the online teacher I ran into the problem of cheating and inappropriate use of the discussion board. Additionally, when the students submitted Word documents they created clever, yet inappropriate, file names for these assignments. It's possible they thought their behavior would be overlooked since an anonymous person in Arizona was grading their work. However, the online school I work for has a student behavior policy in place. I alerted the director at the church, my administration, and the parents. The students quickly realized that there was as live person grading and giving feedback in the course and their behavior would be monitored and not tolerated.
A solution to this on a more permanent level is to address the guidelines and expectations within the course orientation. When an instructor designs the course rather than teaching from a canned or pre-made course, the instructor can create an orientation that involves the guidelines of Netiquette. Students can discuss the rules of netiquette and talk about what they did and didn't know about that term and expectation. Many times netiquette is a new concept to students and many are intrigued that there are guidelines for online behavior. Oftentimes, the Internet, to children, seems like a free for all. Taking an online course and being a responsible participant is something that an online course can teach.
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