Boundaries

Boundaries are not always restrictive in the sense that they keep things in or out; boundaries may be comforting in that they enable you to know how far to go and within what perimeters you can find safety to explore and grow.

Wikipedia defines boundaries as the guidelines, rules or limits that a person creates to identify for themselves what are reasonable, safe and permissible ways for other people to behave...and how they will respond when someone steps outside those limits. Boundaries are created based on our personal codes and backgrounds. I've identified four types of boundaries that you should consider as you move into online teaching and learning.

• Time

  

  Sound familiar? This demonstrates inadequate boundaries. No matter what reason you had for responding, then extending the conversation, this learner may possibly now have the misconception that you routinely work in the wee hours and are available to respond to inquiries. The learner may become frustrated the next time he asks a question and you don't respond to his late-night inquiry. Alina Tugend, writing in the NY Times online last year, quoted Liuba Belkin, an assistant professor of management at Lehigh University, who said, "in the United States, we are very uncomfortable with silence. We interpret it in a very negative way." Learners often interpret delays in faculty responses as negative silence. In the case of our scenario, the learner or even you, yourself, may feel that you should respond if you are online in the course. You want to be responsive. You want to be accessible to learners in their times of need, but unless you're a transplant coordinator, it probably isn't necessary that you respond to every request at the moment it hits your inbox or gets posted.

  Anecdotal data tells us that we live in a fast-paced world that is continuing to spin toward out-of-control. A High Touch Communications blog from 2013 discussed a poll they conducted among their friends and colleagues about expectations (there's that word again) for response times to various types of communications, both in- and out-of-work hours from colleagues, bosses, clients, and family. Some respondents indicated they expect a recipient to respond to an email message within 15 minutes of receiving it.

  Now I'm making a guess here, but I don't think that you intend to be available to inquiries 24x7 with immediate responses. Therefore, it's really important that you establish and maintain boundaries in your course  (except for those well reasoned exceptions).

  An Idea for Your Course

  Discussing boundaries is a great opportunity for instructors and learners to talk about what is important, what is realistic, and what is expected. Give learners a voice and you may experience a lot less grumbling (if you ever had any!)

• Personal Comfort

  There are times that you will thoughtfully build learning experiences that may be uncomfortable to some learners. You know that a feeling of discomfort can lead to positive growth and you want to stretch your learners toward positive growth and change; however, you don't want the discomfort to extend into the negative range.

  When your course content leads learners into intimate disclosure, consider including a statement in your expectations document about the level of intimacy that you expect from learners in their posts. You should clearly acknowledge your understanding that some individuals may be uncomfortable with the discussion but encourage them to participate as fully as they are comfortable doing.

  Unless the learning outcomes of your course are such that they cannot be met without full participation, then you should determine alternate opportunities for those who are concerned. This allows them to achieve the course's learning outcomes without undue anxiety. It would be a rare situation where the learning outcomes could not be met with alternative criteria. One simple solution would be to have the learner submit the assignment to you directly.

  Reflect on this potential before your course begins and have a strategy prepared for dealing with it. Your approach will likely be a incremental one. For an requirement that you know will cause uncomfortable stretching:

  1. Acknowledge to learners that you understand the feelings which the assignment may cause and that some of them may feel experience apprehension. Be sure to acknowledge that those feelings are real, are not uncommon, and are valid.
  2. Explain the requirements and your rationale and expectations clearly. A few learners will be able to overcome their apprehension when they understand the benefit from completing the assignment and your purpose for including it.
  3. Specifically invite students who cannot overcome their apprehension to contact you to arrange a discussion.
  4. Have the discussion (this is a great opportunity to pick up the phone; this type of conversation will be easier person-to-person rather than drawn out over an exchange of email messages) with the learner.
  5. Finally, provide a mechanism thatwill allow the learner to complete the assignment in a different manner.

• Appropriateness

  Too Much Information

  In online courses, naturally, we don't have to worry about physical boundaries and "personal space," but when someone approaches or crosses an appropriateness boundary, the impact often can be just as jolting as if it happened in person. If you are "up" on today's abbreviations, you may hear people talk about TMI—too much information!

  Some assignments coupled with the relative (supposed) anonymity of online presence allows participants to share too much. Many studies have shown that people routinely disclose greater amounts of personal information online than in "the real world" (Attrill, 2013; Robinson, 2013; Sheldon, 2009), and that trend seems to be escalating. When this happens, we can be affected in as great as manner as if the "invasion" occurred in the real world.

  

  "Damage Control"

  In a classroom, faculty are sometimes able to sense where a conversation is headed and to interrupt. But, how do you "interrrupt" a communication that has been posted just after you logged off the day? By the time you read it, half of the class also has read it, with mixed impact that perhaps includes a flood of direct messages to you. You fear that if you call attention to it, it will simply result in bringing it to the forefront of awareness of those who haven't yet read it. On the other hand, if you don't address it, the door will be open for further abuse—intentional or not—and an escalation of the issue through the course communications.

  We hope this never occurs, but there may be instances when someone "goes over the line." It may be intentional, venting, or simply not considering that it may be offensive or uncomfortable to others. The learner may be unaware that the comments would be uncomfortable to anyone. Inadvertent transgressions, when brought to that person's attention, could cause embarrassment. Except in cases of flagrant mal-intent, t is important that you bring learners back into the learning community as quickly as possible. Unresolved, embarrassment can result in learners becoming lurkers rather than participants.

  In the CMS

  Most CMSs provide a way for instructors to delete messages and posts. While you can't undo something that is done, here are some actions you may consider:

  • Delete the offending communications as soon as possible then use the situation as a learning moment.
  • Contact the individual privately as quickly as you notice the situation and explain your concerns then discuss the situation.
  • If you delete a posting or message, explain to the author why you took this step.
  • If appropriate, discuss it with the class.
  • Many systems will leave a marker when a posting is deleted to show that something has been removed; you may need to provide an explanation to the course participants.

  If the comments were intentionally made with ill-will, you may need to escalate it with guidance from your institution's policies office.

  In any event, this is an uncomfortable situation for many and must be dealt with fairly and professionally. Under no circumstances should you allow yourself to be drawn into a discussion which was poorly conceived from the beginning.

• Professional

  The final boundary that we will discuss is the professional one. In addition to increased personal disclosure, online communication tends to promote a narrowing or blurring of professional boundaries. As instructors move from "sage on the stage" to "guide on the side," it encourages students to view the faculty in a different manner than when the professor entered the room and lectured from behind a podium with the span of front-of-the-room between her and the students.

  Each instructor has a professional boundary that is most comfortable to that individual. It is important that you make that boundary known to the students.

  

  If you prefer that your students address you as Dr. Talleyrand or Professor rather than Zoe, you need to let them know that explicitly. Don't assume that because you "signed" your course welcome as Dr. Talleyrand that students will understand that you prefer the use of your title. Most CMSs show individuals' full names, so that rather than seeing "Dr. Talleyrand" on each posting, they see "Zoe Talleyrand" and it's easy to begin to think of that individual as Zoe. However, don't correct learners publicly if they forget in a post; respectfully let the them know privately that you would prefer the use of the title.

  Maintaining a professional distance will make discipline and grade appeals easier; however, the use of names and titles is very much a personal preference that you will need to make for yourself.

  Likewise, faculty shouldn't make that same assumption about students. Particularly when students may be professionals, in addition to students, themselves, they may have preferences of titles.

  An Idea for Your Course

  Learners may move through programs as cohorts. If so, you may assume that there is no need for an "introductions" requirement at the beginning of the course because they know one another. Remember, that there may have been changes that they want to share, or there may be an out-of-sequence learner introduced into the mix. Most importantly, though you and the learners don't know one another. Use the beginning of a course as a "fresh slate" to let learners bring one another up-to-date. Encourage them to share if there are name or title preferences, as you yourself should do.

  Special Word about Social Media

  In many instances, professional distance—or the lack thereof—now extends to participation in social media. Each of us has decide, but many instructors make it a policy not to "friend" students on social media. Some choose to wait until the individual is no longer a student in the program for which they teach.

  If you wish to use social media in your course, you may find there are fewer entanglements if you create a separate site that is strictly for professional use and keep personal and professional lives separate.

This has been a long section, so we'll conclude by tying it all together!