Netiquette

Monash Student Charter

In all your interactions in online discussion (as in face-to-face tutorials), please remember that you are required to adhere to the following provisions of the Monash Student Charter.

As a Monash student, you are expected to:

• act with consideration and courtesy to other students
• respect the rights of others to study and work free from discrimination and harassment
• express your views respectfully and responsibly and accept the rights of others to do the same

Students can expect that Monash will:

• require that students are treated with consideration and courtesy
• seek to provide a safe learning environment that is free from discrimination and harassment

Online participation

It is a vital part of the learning process for you to ask questions, answer others’ questions, contribute your own thoughts, and read carefully others’ contributions. Your online participation will help you make sense of the ideas in your units and will prepare you for the assignments.

Participating in an online class

When participating in a live online classroom it is good practice to:

• mute your microphone unless you would like to speak, background noise really interferes with a live session (in Zoom you can hold space-bar to temp un-mute).
• use the ‘Raise hand’ button to attract your teacher’s/classmate’s attention
• not to have a parallel conversation on the chat unless your teacher asks you to do so
• use your video/audio where possible as its great to see and hear people in person when there are no opportunities to meet face-2-face
• never record or screenshot anything without permission
• never distribute any part of the tutorial (discussion, images) online, in social media, or to any other provider (including uploading tweets/instagrams/facebook posts)
• use chat function carefully, respectfully and as part of your learning

Participating on Moodle

An important note about online learning; please remember that the major difference with participating in a course online is that much of the communication is by written word. Therefore body language, voice tone, and instantaneous listener feedback found in the traditional classroom are all absent. This needs to be taken into account when contributing messages to a discussion and when reading them.

In order to keep the learning space open and safe for all participants, please keep these points in mind:

• Written communication can easily be misinterpreted so avoid the use of strong or offensive language. Certain modifications to fonts can change the tone e.g. capitals.
• In general, avoid humour and sarcasm as the absence of facial or voice cues can make it difficult for the reader to comprehend.
• If another participant states something you find offensive, discuss it with the teaching team. What you may find offensive may have been unintentional and may be cleared up by a member of the teaching team.
• Always think carefully about the content and the form of your text before submitting it. Once the message is sent to the group, there is no taking it back. If you are feeling an emotional reaction, wait to post until you are feeling calmer and can be more objective in your expression
• A fully online learning space is first and foremost a learning environment. Comments that would be inappropriate in any physical learning environment will also be inappropriate in an online forum. Always treat your instructor and fellow students with respect.
• Before adding your comments or starting a new discussion, read the thread of your fellow students' comments. You want to relate your comments based on the discussion in progress.
• As each Moodle site is only accessible to those enrolled in the unit, and each unit aims to develop a community of understandings, knowledge and skills through working together across different settings, participants' contributions will always be attributable and not anonymous.