Somewhere between 10-20% of students in an online course will show patterns of absence or disengagement. If this pattern is not addressed early in the course, these students are likely to remain detached the entire semester, and become Emergency Students.

Grading Threaded Discussions – The 20/80 Approach The 20% - When grading your discussions, only enter comments for the 20% of students who have the lowest scores, the ones who really need some direction for improving their posts. Let them know what they were missing and specifically what they can do better next time. If you are using a rubric (a gr

These are one-sentence replies that can lead your students into higher-order thinking. 1. How would you define ? Here you are pulling a significant word from your student’s post, one that may be loaded with assumptions that you want them to question. This also demonstrates that you’re paying attention to what they are writing. 2. What reasons do yo

what the online teacher needs more than anything is to develop a set of habits: regular and clear communication, demonstrating compassion, and developing the discipline of prompt feedback.

In an online class, prompt feedback is more important than quality feedback.

They were regularly facilitating threaded discussions.

The best long-term solution for online absenteeism is your consistent presence in the course. In general, the courses with the lowest student absenteeism are the courses where teachers are the most present.

Draw a line in the sand.

Set a Regular Time