In the email message, the online teacher should explain that the purpose of the discussion forum is to discuss and debate course related concepts – not to critique each other's study habits. It is recommended that an online teacher reply to this posting in two ways.įirst, in a private email message to the student who made the posting. He clearly has not read all the source material or he would never come to such a naïve interpretation of the events."
"I think that Jayden's response is completely redundant. This is known as 'back-channeling' and is a useful strategy for problematic situations in online courses. If you decide to inform an online classmate of a content, spelling or grammar mistake, inform them by private email rather than in the discussion forum. Rule 10 of 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes Remember to 'seek to understand before being understood' in an online discussion forum. Nobody appreciates a 'know it all' in an online course. Remember that the focus in an online course is on academic discourse rather than personal lives. Most of us now have digital profiles on the internet through our use of social media applications, from where it can be easy to obtain personal information about each other. Rule 8 of 10: Respect other people's privacy In an online course, discussion should focus on academic issues, not personality issues and conflicts. 'Flaming' is the term used when people use a hostile or aggressive tone to express themselves in an online message. Rule 7 of 10: Help keep flame wars under control When asking questions in an online course, be sure to summarise and share the responses. Sharing your own personal knowledge in an online course can be very empowering. You may want to check your academic references before asserting that "it's my understanding that." or "I believe it's the case." Also, pay attention to the content of your writing. You may be assessed on the quality of your writing – do check your spelling and grammar before clicking 'Submit'. Rule 5 of 10: Demonstrate good academic writing It's your responsibility to ensure that the time others spend reading your postings isn't wasted. Rule 4 of 10: Respect other people's time and bandwidth Lurk before you leap – spend time observing the tone of an academic conversation in your online course before 'jumping in'. Netiquette varies according to domain – social conversations in social media applications are very different to academic conversations in an online course. Rule 3 of 10: Know where you are in cyberspace
NETIQUETTE RULES FOR STUDENTS OFFLINE
Remember: the same standards of ethics and personal behaviour that you follow offline also apply online. Rule 2 of 10: Online and offline standards of behaviour Stand up for yourself, but try not to hurt people's feelings. Remember that you are communicating with other humans, not a computer screen.