Technology is wonderful when it works. When it malfunctions, however, it can cause more trouble than we ever thought.
Each week my students have the option to participate in an online discussion that takes place on our class Facebook page. I introduce the topic on Sunday afternoons. Students then must respond to my post by midnight on Friday and respond to one other student by noon on Sunday.
Last Wednesday a student sent me a message that he was unable to respond on Facebook because he kept getting a message to try again. For the next two days, many students sent me the same message, sometimes attaching the response that they were unable to post.
Instead of sitting back and simply monitoring the discussion, I had to post replies and field student complaints and concerns. A couple of hours ago I closed the week’s discussion and posted the new discussion topic.
I sure hope this week’s discussion goes smoothly. We are discussing our favorite and our least favorite Super Bowl commercials.
