Working on my first podcast

Like I said in my initial post I have been thinking about this blog/podcast for quite awhile and want to provide value to those who follow it.  So many of my initial posts on this blog will be my thoughts as I develop the first episode of my blog.  Any feedback would be appreciated.

So for the first podcast episode I want to cover several things; the first of which is to introduce myself, not only who I am, why I feel "qualified" to do the podcast, but also to just explain where I come from.  I think my first blog post provides some of that information, but will want to enhance it so that it flows better - more presentation like.

My intent is for each episode to be about 30 minutes long; long enough to provide value, but not so long that people don't want to finish.  The intro probably will only take 5 or so minutes so I will also cover a topic that I have shared with lots of faculty over the years... and would be my first Sam's Soapbox segment.

Cue some sort of music intro...

In my years of teaching I have discovered there are three types of students in every online class.  The first type are those that you love to have in the class and I call them the Over Achiever.  Now it sounds like I am putting them down; I am not.  These students have probably contacted you before the class began asking questions about the course, they logged in the first day and completed all of the first week assignments, found any and all mistakes in your welcome module, and have started on the homework that isn't due for a couple weeks.  Of course because they are so active in the course they keep you on your toes not only answering their questions, but trying to keep up with the grading, and believe me they will follow up on every assignment and exam question.

The second type of student is the exact opposite.  These I call the Procrastinators.  I hold these students close to my heart because I am very much like them and have to work really hard not to get behind in my own courses as a student or teacher.  These students will typically log in the first day to find out the deadlines of the assignments and you may see from them again a couple times over the unit, but most likely they will be submitting everything on the due day - most right up to the due time as well. Many of these students have been able to function in their previous classes at this level and no matter of coaxing to get them to work on assignments early seems to work.  They are also the ones who will have a life event happen and then get behind in the course.  I try to be flexible for all students because  I know where they come from, but I wish they would take my advice and log in and work on the course everyday.  I am sure you feel the same.

So I used to tell faculty at this point that the third type of student is Everyone Else.  And typically that is the case.  The rest of your class will be a mixture of the first two types; they don't necessarily log in the very first day, but they do get in early on the first week, get things done on time sometimes a day or so early and generally just work through the course like they are supposed to.  They ask questions when needed, are a great group of students, and are typically the majority of your class.  In fact if you were to break it down by percentages you would have like 80% Everyone Else, 10-15% Procrastinators, and then 5-9% Over Achievers.  At this point you may say but Sam you don't exactly add up to 100% and that is because I have had to tweak this topic to add a fourth student that seems to show up 1-2% of the time.  

This type of student is why I call this segment: Sam's Soapbox because typically 1-3 students in your class pretty much just never show.  And they are the most frustrating type of student.  They may log in once or twice and with the new federal aide laws in place that require them to submit an assignment will do that, but then they never come back.  You don't know they are going to be what I call the "never show up'er" until a couple weeks in to the class have passed.  So you email them several times through out the first week, they submit an assignment so you stop bugging them a bit, and then the due date for the first unit starts to loom and they haven't been logging in so you are emailing them even more.  I try to reach out to all students who haven't logged into the course for 3-4 days so that in hopes to pull them back in and get them to participate.  The "never show up'ers" tend to just drain you and many don't ever drop.

This semester I have just 1 "never show up'er" and I have given up.  I have emailed him probably 10 times, I have submitted a notice to the student achievement center at the school I teach at, and nothing.  I want to see all of my students succeed and I am guessing that many of the faculty who are listening or reading this feel the same way.  And the most frustrating thing is that I don't think there is anything you can do for this type of student because they don't want to complete the course.  They signed up for the class for a different reason.

Okay time to get off the soap box...

In the end and the reason I keep teaching online is that the majority of your students will complete the course - the Over Achievers will knock it out and if you let them a week or two early, the Procrastinators will finish at the very last minute, and Everyone Else will be done at some point in between.  As this podcast and blog develop I will provide techniques that I have learned over the years to help each type of student be successful in an online class. 

Until next time....be an effective online teacher!