Or Am I Being Too Obvious?

So I've been teaching online English courses at BYU-Idaho since -- I realized this week -- 2012. And there's this thing to think about that's been bugging me for a while.

This semester, I found a Facebook group dedicated to BYUI online classes. It's student-run. About half of the posts in the course are from students listing the courses they want to take the following semester, and recommendations on who the best teachers are for the class. Sometimes familiar names come up -- once I even saw my own.

But part of me wonders: Are they asking the right question?

Or are they asking the question outwardly, when it's one that should be asked inwardly?

Because when we online instructors meet, together or in legion, we get a lot of education on what we're doing wrong, or, in other words, what we're not doing right. The focus, put less negatively, is on improvement. We're imperfect beings, we instructors. We have many areas in which we can improve. And whether it's to be believed or not, we are working to improve.

Is the same being asked of students at BYUI?

A semester or two ago we had an online instructors' forum where students were invited to present their desires to the instructors. They pointed out many things we are not doing to their liking -- we don't grade fast enough; we don't respond to questions fast enough, and so on.

Both my wife and I listened to that forum and had the same question afterward: Why was there no time for instructor rebuttal?

So as I see students asking questions about who the best instructors are, and creating spreadsheets and other resources to track the "best" instructors, I have to ask the question: Who are the best students? And if I see a student in my classroom who doesn't come recommended, do I get to decide they don't belong there?

I do not.

I get to teach whomever comes in, does the work, and hangs on until the end.

Now we're getting somewhere: We can't put together a list of ideal students by name and put that information on a tidy little spreadsheet.

We can do what some students do with their recommendations: Go beyond the name to good attributes.

So who is the best student at BYUI?

Here's my list:

• Good students know the learning environment enough to find their own lessons each week, where to find instructor feedback, and where to find instructor announcements
• Good students read instructor announcements
• Good students ask questions
• Good students ask questions in a timely manner. They don't wait until the 11th hour before an assignment is due to ask those questions, and get irritated when they do not get an immediate answer
• Good students do their work to the best of their ability
• Good students realize that instructors have other students. It's also likely they have other jobs. And families. And other things they like to do outside of their jobs, so if an answer isn't immediate or if a grade isn't done when desired, it's not because instructors are slackers, but because instructors -- like students -- have a lot going on outside that one class
• Good students realize that the online instructors at BYUI do not create the curriculum for the classes they teach. It's highly likely if students are frustrated with unclear assignments, or broken links, or assignments that seem like busy work, the instructors are too. It's also likely instructors are asking for better instructions and less busy work. But they, like students, have to wait until those in power decide to take their questions seriously.

I could go on. But these seem to be the core attributes I'd like to see in students. And I realize many of these attributes are mutual attributes. So I'm going to add one more:

• Good students -- and good instructors -- aren't the tail wagging the dog. They try their hardest to work together, and take a mutual interest in the class.