Despite the ever-growing body of evidence that unequivocally supports the need for clear, detailed, timely feedback in response to students' work, the practical demands of the online classroom leave me struggling to translate pedagogical knowledge into practice. Let's face it: there is a LOT of written work in an online classroom. From threaded discussions to homework assignments to formal papers, the text-driven nature of the asynchronous learning environment produces a mountain of student artifacts that demand my individualized attention. At any given time, I may have 20 to 40 students (depending on the number of courses I am teaching), and there is, invariably, only one of me. As such, the challenge is not in knowing how to provide effective feedback; it is in finding the time to do it.
