220+Hall

The Ten Foot Pole Post: Responding to Challenging Discussion Board Posts || Sabrina Hall, Kaplan University, Beloit, Wisconsin, United States, shall@kaplan.edu Yasmeen Aleem, Kaplan University, Chicago, Illinois, United States, yaleem@kaplan.edu Alli Woods, Kaplan University, Columbus, Ohio, United States, awoods@kaplan.edu || As an online facilitator, one is often faced with challenging discussion posts; these may include inflammatory, racist, overly-personal, sexual, or otherwise inappropriate comments in a discussion setting. Within the parameters of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, the professor often walks a fine line when determining when and how to intervene.
 * **Submission ID 220** (withdrawn per email from Yasmeen Aleem to Bert, 4/1 JST) ||
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• Does one delete the thread, comment publicly to the student, respond to the student privately, contact one's supervisor, or act like it never happened? • What will be the impact of such a response or non-response? How will the student handle such an intervention? How will the rest of the class view the instructor’s response? • How will the incident impact the momentum and direction of the discussion?

There is often no clear cut answer and/or best practice to follow.

Given the “new frontier” of online education, best practices are still being developed for such situations. Instructors are often left to their own best judgment or prior experience, or must solicit the advice of other professors on when and how to handle such a situation.

In this panel discussion, three online professors from various disciplines will discuss strategies for dealing with such communication in the class. It is their hope that opening the discussion among online facilitators across disciplines will arm participants with new viewpoints and techniques to handle the posting that most “wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.” || General Session Panel Discussion All ||
 * **Notes & Comments**