Tuesday 21 April 2009

Fiction Elements Online comes online on the blog

Hi, students (and others!),

I'm teaching our Fiction Elements Online class this semester and have asked all the students to blog about how they're finding the experience of being an online student, but I thought I should lead off and say something about how I'm finding the experience of teaching online. I've also suggested they may all like to post a picture, because some of our students aren't on campus -- for example, we have offshore students, and sometimes others from remote corners of Australia.

This is my second year of teaching this subject, and I must say I'm really enjoying the online class. It's great to have a mix of both on-campus and off-campus students, and to see everyone's different perspectives.

I love logging in and seeing who has been active on the Discussion Board -- who has said what, and who's responding to whose post, the new directions a particular discussion is taking. Generally, I try to follow up everyone's response to a particular activity, whether it's a writing exercise or a story analysis or a general discussion about an aspect of fiction. When a discussion does take off with the students responding to each other, I'll read all the posts but won't necessarily respond. I will, however, if I feel I have something to add or a question to ask, or if I'm just busting to say something.

It's funny, because I don't get to have that personal contact I have in a face-to-face classroom where I see people each week, but sometimes people will write things that they might not say face to face, and so I still feel like I'm getting to know everyone quite well.

What I'm looking forward to at the moment is our first chat session. I know last year this was a lot of fun -- it's just coordinating it, and trying to get a time to suit everyone that's a problem, but it's well worth the effort as it gives us the chance to all be together at the same time.

Tracey Rolfe

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