The literature contains much evidence regarding incivility
in the nursing workplace and in nursing education. One would think that incivility would not
exist in online education, when actually; incivility does indeed occur in
online class settings. Some examples of
online incivility are:
1) Students ignoring requests for information and lack of
response to classmates in an online group, or ignoring requests from online
faculty.
2) Students not turning in an assignment when due without
any communication to faculty
3) Students “fighting” in online groups regarding the
direction and development of a project and asking faculty to “referee”.
4) Faculty unresponsive to student questions/emails for more
than 48 hours
5) Faculty belittling students in online discussions or in
emails (true story: once had faculty email a student that they had “the lowest
grade” in the class on an assignment ”
6) Faculty unwilling to admit a grading error and not
correcting an assignment grade.
As you can see, students and faculty are equally responsible for professional and civil behavior in the online course. If an emergency occurs, have a friend or family member notify faculty so the appearance of non-communication does not ensue. If there is a difficult situation you are dealing with, email the instructor, and work out a way to accomplish the learning goals with a request for some flexibility. Online instructors are always open to support student learning as long as instructors do not feel taken advantage of for their “good nature”. Students understand work life balance issues and if faculty are going to be late with grading, or less active in discussions for a particular week, a class email or announcement shows professional and civil behavior.
Dr. Maggie
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