My job as Tech Coordinator gives me the freedom of not being locked to one classroom and a select group of students. It also has never given me the opporunity to grade papers and deal with over anxious students fighting for every point.
But now my grad students are driving me nuts with doing extra credit, counting each point and worrying more about what grade they are getting than worrying about the material they are learning. I wish there were a way I could just contract with each of them at the beginning of the semester that they will each receive an A. Now do the work and learn. But somehow I find that a difficult concept to apply when you are an online instructor. How will I be able to motivate them to keep up with the work and not slack off? I guess the proviso will be as long as you do the assignments with good faith, participate online in the discussions and turn in a final paper you get the A. But will that get me the quality of work I am looking for?
