Howling into the wind

I was reminded today of the major weakness in most online classes, namely that many students don't spend much time reading the syllabus or even exploring the course site. 

This reminder came via the majority of one class NOT commenting (at least twice) on any classmates' discussion posts from last Wednesday. In other words, they had through Sunday night to go back to the discussion, watch a few videos (for that course video posts of not more than three minutes substitute for writing, though they do include PowerPoint slides), and respond to at least two of the 15 videos posted (five enrollees may be contemplating dropping or just skipped that assignment).

I know we are supposed to be kind to young people after over two years of pandemic chaos and so much cultural and climate and political chaos... but when reasonably engaged students miss such a simple requirement, that must mean something broke down in communications. It's tough to be kind to people who aren't even aware that you are trying.

I counted at least three places in the course content and the syllabus where this requirement to post a few comments was spelled out, plus I posted an Announcement (that only is read by someone already in Canvas, the course management system) and a link to a video I created that explains the requirement. Few in the class have watched that video, if the Loom statistics are reliable.

About 40 percent of the students DID post those two comments and thus earned 20/20 possible points. So I can reasonably deduce that they did, indeed, read the instructions all the way through and might even have invested 8 minutes on the video I created. I could post another Announcement, I suppose, but what good is communication when one side is not tuning in?

So, I will send an email through students' university email accounts this morning, with one more reminder. I will point them toward the several places in our course where the requirements are spelled out, and remind them that there are about 13 of these discussions in total and that they all need comments to be considered "complete."

Perhaps I need to get their phone numbers and send individual texts... or postcards to everyone... or track them down in their dorms or rental units. 

I'm not sure I should worry so much about students who, likely through ignorance, miss chances to participate in the course and earn higher marks. But, honestly, I do and always have. 

I made comments on essays that will likely never be read. I write a blog that few will ever read. I critique publications from across the country that rarely get any better, despite my "expert" suggestions.

My vague hope is that a few of my pieces of writing get through to someone. After all, I DO get paid the big bucks.