Saturday, October 3, 2009

Calling in sick for an online course?

I have called in sick for work. I have been unable to make it to class do to an illness. I have never missed an online course for being under the weather until now. You would think that with the flexibility of being able to work from home a student would never miss class do to an illness. That is what I thought until this week. I attempted to complete the assigned readings and this made me dizzy. When I wasn't feeling dizzy I would find myself having to reread multiple times because my mind would be wondering (more than usual). The level of concentration needed to put 100 percent effort in was definitely not there. Would it have been better to complete the work on time or to wait so that it is done with 100 percent effort? I did the responsible thing and let my instructors know that I was sick and would not be participating until I felt better, but I still felt guilty that with it being an online course you would think that I would be able to participate no matter what. Now of course I am feeling better, but I am feeling anxious to get the past weeks work finished knowing that I have the next module breathing down my neck.

I am interested in learning how online instructors deal with illness in the "classroom." How do you allow for a student to make up work when a majority of it involves discussion and other elements that involve the other students?

1 comment:

  1. Don,
    I have found that illness and life just happen even in the online environment. My policy is that as long as students let me know when they are sick or need to be away, I am fine with them making up the work. It gets hard when they miss deadlines, then backtrach and mention that they were sick. It helps to be up front right away and then I am completely understanding.
    I hope you are feeling better, did you have H1N1? Nice that we are online so you couldn't get us sick!

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