Netiquette, Etiquette and Cues

I think I’m gonna go with netiquette/etiquette as perhaps the most important thing after having gone over the basic elements of online/blended/on site teaching and learning.  Netiquette/etiquette is important regardless the model because it deals with communication at its most basic level.  Speaking in all caps in an online platform is absolutely considered rude but yet, can be meant as enthusiastic.  Interrupting in a synchronous, onsite class situation is rude too, but can also come from enthusiasm.  Misunderstandings such as this can close the communication and prevent any significant learning from being facilitated or had.  Open, transparent communication is critical for participating in or facilitating a learning experience no matter the type, synchronous or asynchronous.  As in life beyond teaching and learning, healthy, mindful and thoughtful communication is key to any fruitful discourse.  So we’re talking about a behavioral component that can (and will if given the chance) impede or degrade a cognitive one.  If I’ve offended a learner by my netiquette or etiquette during the initial stages of a learning experience, they’re going to shut down, thank you for playing, no copy of the home game for me!  Even if my offense didn’t totally shut a learner down, it will impede our ability to communicate honestly because the learner will be in a defensive posture.  Not impossible to get through that as a facilitator, but awfully tough and often requires a long-haul approach; much time investment of time.  I just have to throw in some thoughts about cues in a distance learning model.  I have challenges on a daily basis with being on camera and staying on camera, and I’ve had some issues with plagiarism – a subject where you for sure don’t wanna cross me.  I’m super liberal about grading/due dates/revisions/do-overs and all that, the value for me is in the student doing the work not meeting a deadline, though I clearly understand that value as well.  If I catch you cheating, I will hunt you down like a dog and there will be a price to be paid.  That is the one area on which I’m totally inflexible and aggressive.  I definitely look for cues and clues.  I will gladly spend the extra time to actively research and track down evidence of plagiarism.  Plagiarized submissions are completely free of value in nearly every way and I nip that in the bud swiftly and aggressively.  Then I launch a campaign to understand what led that learner to cheat in the first place.  I then try very actively to reach that learner in a way that I hadn’t previously, to get through for real, to open the door to us being able to teach and learn together.