What I've found is that most of the actual learning in any class (either online or off-line) involves friend-friend communications. In the off-line environment, informal group study sessions are where a lot of the learning takes place, and in those sessions, the communication is informal and among equals. The danger in online-only classes, is that if there is no forum in which students can communicate with each other informally, this badly impacts the educational experience.
Perhaps we have different views on what is
formal. I do not expect them to present posts with a thesis statement, sentences with good transitions, proper use of the semicolon, etc. I just want them to spellcheck and use basic punctuation/grammar appropriately. Thus far on my discussion board, the students are taking a conversational tone. Most (thankfully) are doing so with minimal errors.
But what I also want 2 get thru 2 them is that typeing like this isnt akseptibal OMG And then they might start a new sentence which is a problem coz its pretty hrd for the rest of us to reed it Something that I've seen work is to create a formal classroom and a alternate chat room.
I like this idea and have considered adding a chat room in the future.
One thing that works for me is not to subtract points for bad presentation but to add points for good presentation. The danger in the online environment is that the student will prefer to say nothing rather than to say something badly formed. This can lead to a "death spiral" where a student stops talking altogether, and this is really bad in an online environment.
This does concern me. In my messages to students whose posts were removed, I mentioned that I understand they are still getting used to the class, that their English doesn't have to be perfect but they do have to check for mistakes before posting, where to find the spellcheck icon, etc., etc. I state in discussion guidelines that the online board is like a conversation in class. If they make a comment that isn't fully accurate, another student or the instructor will clarify (but they won't lose points). I'm hoping to decrease the fear factor this way.
The issue that you have to be aware of is that online learning changes a lot of the social structure and boundaries. In a face-to-face class, there is a very clear boundary between "inside" the classroom and "outside" the classroom, and very clear markers for what situation your are in. In online forums, the boundaries are much less clear, and a lot of the logistics are different. In a face to face environment, it is impractical for the professor to follow you around and essentially monitor all conversations pertaining to the class, but that is the way most forums are structured. In a face to face environment, it is relatively easy to control access to converations in very subtle ways. Figuring out how to create these social structures online is rather tricky.
This is an interesting way in which online learning is unique. Again, I don't expect perfection. I do expect basic, basic, basic English skills. BASIC!
The problem is that online environments are extremely socially fragile, and my experience has been that adding barriers to communication tends to get people to stop communicating, which is much more worrisome in a online environment than a physical one. In a physical environment, there is enough "out-of-band" communication so that people can remain social connected with the class even if they aren't actively communicating. In a virtual environment, the communication link is the only social connection that the student has to the class, and if that breaks, then the student is completely lost.
Part of my views on this is because I've participated in Chinese forums in which I'm less fluent than English. There is this huge fear of saying or looking stupid, which causes one to not communicate, and this is a bad thing since you need to keep communicating in order to communicate better.
I guess we must agree to disagree on some of these points. I do not believe it adds a barrier in communication to expect students to spellcheck and proofread. If I berated them publicly for their mistakes, that would create a barrier. If I required each post to read like a formal essay, that would create a barrier. I think we are lowering our standards too far if we accept sloppy, chat-style writing from our students.
On the issue of second-language students, I have many. Their mistakes are different from the careless writing I'm talking about here. I do not comment on it (although I would if they were handing in a formal essay to be graded).
