Online Discipline Problems

I enjoyed reading Dan's Blog about "Students Behaving Badly...Online". It made me think.
On occasion in our Webinars the subject of handling online student discipline problems came up, especially relating to incidents in the public Discussion Forums. I recall that in one Webinar specifically devoted to the subject of student discipline we were asked to indicate whether we've had any problems by showing a smiley face.
I thought for a minute and realized that I must have been very fortunate. I couldn't recall any problems and I considered myself extremely lucky while wondering just how bad a "problem" could be.

This semester was different but fortunately only one incident reared its ugly head. Chalk it up perhaps to student frustration adjusting to a new learning environment coupled with the fact that the course was not suited to that person's needs.
Within the first week one student used the Discussion area to derail the course and its requirements along with me and my standards. It was a scathing post to say the least; a veritable "doosie".
However, that's what the Discussion delete button is for...followed by an Email to that student.
Ironically the Email surely went unread since, immediately following the offensive post, the student dropped the course. I guess the post was a departing 'gift'.
I will admit that I came away thinking, "Gosh! I sure hope that never happens again!"

This experience reinforced my own practice of checking new posts daily and checking them often, whenever possible, throughout the day.
Even if I have a specific block of time allotted for reading and grading all posts, I always try to take a quick look-see several times each day just to be sure what is going on in the Discussion Forum.

I thought about why only one problematic incident occurred over many semesters. While I don't have a definitive answer perhaps some of my "standards" that were the target of that derisive discussion post have actually helped to avoid such incidents in the past.
Within the Discussion area the standards are clearly stated; the Forum is for science research and it is not a place to vent frustrations, negatively criticize in a personal way any other member participating in the Forum, or to express personal political or religious views.
Perhaps the tone I set in replying to students is also a factor, that being a professional one rather than too 'personal', discounting of course the occasional Instructor reply in which a bit of humor might be called for though never directed 'at' or 'about' a student or their research.
Also, one of the things that annoyed the student who 'took me down' in the offensive post, might work in my favor; that being my insistence that Research Discussion Posts are well written, well organized and easy to read and follow with respect to grammar, spelling, sentence structure and uniform fonts. After all, this is college.
Yes, it took a lot of people a full Unit to get used to editing their Discussions but, by Unit 3, they were looking very professional and downright attractive.

I can't help but believe that the students also experience pride when they realize they've mastered the art of publicly presenting a well written research message to their classmates, reinforced by an instructor reply that says, "Thank you for your very well written, well organized and informative research!"

Lorrie