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Student Information
Should we start a distance PhD program?? *NEW STUDENTS* Students at distant locations can feel "left out" of a course because they can't see other students face to face. One way we include these students is through use of the Discussions (electronic bulletin boards). We find that students who are encouraged to use the Discussions to answer questions posed by the instructor also learn to use it to ask questions of other students. When their classmates see their questions and offer solutions, everybody wins, because the entire class may have access to the Discussion area. Because we also understand the importance of working in teams, even across wide distances, we use the Presentations pages to place students into teams, then we create a Discussion area for each team. Only the students who are a part of a given team can see the materials posted in their Discussion area, so team members can communicate privately on their projects. WebCT also provides opportunities for Chat rooms. Students can use Chat for course work or social contact. Because we acknowledge that our students are separated by half the globe, we do not require participation in chat, but we encourage teams to use the chat rooms for private discussions when they can arrange convenient times. As a result, students separated by hours, miles, and cultures find a place where they can be active participants in our classes through the interactive Discussion opportunities. WebCT incorporates a separate mail function to assist in student-to-student and student-to-instructor communication. This function is preferred over regular email channels to assist the instructors' record keeping ability. |
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