You’ve given me something to think further about…thanks! And thanks for not lurking

Susan

Here is what I post in my courses reading the issue of lurking.

You should plan on checking in at least 2 times per week (probably more) and, as in all the Master of Distance Education courses, you will be expected to actively contribute to the discussions. In this course, discussion participation will count for15% of your grade. This is a large chunk, so you should carefully decide how you plan to deal with it. You will be evaluated on both the quantity and the quality of your input. Last term there were “C” students who could have received a “B” if they had participated. They didn’t. And there definitely were “B” students who could have received an “A”. It is your choice. I expect inputs that contribute something to the conversation. And I expect participation in every module. You cannot disappear for a couple of modules and then come back in later on and assume you can make it up. My perspective is that if I am going to be there talking with you, then I expect you to be there talking with us.

There are logical reasons for this view. This course is based on two important assumptions.

1. Managers need to be able to communicate with their peers and subordinates. They need to work cooperatively and collaboratively. The need to be able to communicate ideas and concepts and to persuade others of their ideas. You can’t do this without communicating.

2. This is a program that is based on interaction as a critical pedagogical concept. It is not an independent study course where you go away, read a bunch of books and article, then come back and submit your assignments, and that’s it. It is based on the view that half the learning takes place within the interaction between you and your fellow class members or you and the faculty members. While there is some evidence that one can learn effectively as a “lurker” (e.g. one who just observes or reads, but does not say anything), this is not a balanced or fair situation in our type of classroom. A lurker can learn from someone else who has contributed. However the contributor cannot learn from the lurker. If everyone was a lurker, then there would be no conversation or interaction.

You should note that if you are missing from the discussion, even if you are reading everything that others are saying, we can only assume that you have not shown up at all, since we have no way of knowing you are here. Your contributions also tell us you are here.

While there is some evidence that one can learn effectively as a “lurker” (e.g. one who just observes or reads, but does not say anything), that assumes that there are those who will always be there to “say something”. If everyone was a “lurker” then there would be no conversation, no interaction.
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Despite the above, interaction in my classes does spread out over a continuum… from almost nothing to very high. Here are some typical stats from a course of about 15 students. As you can see, students spread themselves out over a broad range of rate of participation.

Total messages posted in the course: 784
Total message posted in the content modules: 600
Messages posted by faculty member in the content modules: 155
Avg. # of message posted per week by faculty member: 10.3
Range of messages posted by students: 8 - 93
Avg. # of messages posted by students in the content modules: 37
Avg. # of messages posted per week by students: 2.5

Eugene Rubin
Master of Distance Education
University of Maryland University College