Online Participation Guidelines

From: Chapter 7 of Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt, Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999).

1. "Attendance" and presence are required for this class. Students are expected to log on at a minimum of twice per week and are expected to post a substantive contribution to the discussion at that time. Simply saying "hello" or "I agree" is not considered a substantive contribution. Students must support their position or begin a new topic or add somehow to the discussion when logging on.
2. Students cannot pass this class without participation in the online discussion.
3. Assignments, including case studies and papers, will be posted online. Students will be asked to comment on and provide feedback to one another on their work.
4. Although we strongly suggest that all issues, questions, and problems be dealt with online, students can feel free to call the instructors regarding these issues at any time.
5. Use good "netiquette" such as:
   
   • Check the discussion frequently and respond appropriately and on subject.
   • Focus on one subject per message and use pertinent subject titles.
   • Capitalize words only to highlight a point or for titles Capitalizing otherwise is generally viewed as SHOUTING!
   • Be professional and careful with your online interaction.
   • Cite all quotes, references, and sources.
   • When posting a long message, it is generally considered courteous to warn readers at the beginning of the message that it is a lengthy post.
   • It is considered extremely rude to forward someone else's messages without their permission.
   • It is fine to use humor, but use it carefully. The absence of face-to-face cues can cause humor to be misinterpreted as criticism or flaming (angry, antagonistic criticism). Feel free to use emoticons such as "J" or ";)" to let others know that you're being humorous.

The above "netiquette" guidelines were adapted from Arlene H. Rinaldis article, The Net User Guidelines and Netiquette, Florida Atlantic University, 1994, available from Netcom (and online).