Online learning
A good way to keep the students involved in online learning courses is to encourage them to stay in touch by posting virtual office hours.
Daniel,
Good point. Having times when the student knows here she can reach out to the instructor with immediate, live dialogue is very helpful to many students new to the online world.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I would have to agree here and students then being able to contact during those hours makes the class more real for them.
Yes Krystal,
The email contact is a 'lifeline' in the online classroom. Prompt reply is crucial to maintaining the value for the student. Creating excitiment about what will be in "Next Week's Office Hour chat" is a tough, but doable task. It is a sales job. Being there and dependable is only the first step to a vibrant "Office Hours" platform. Maybe some of the other participants have successful experience on 'selling' their chat time to share with us.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Have you had a lot of success with students contacting you during office hours? I think, in my year of online teaching, I've only ever had 1 student email me during my office hours. I think it's useful to have them, just in case, but I think it's also important to check email frequently to get back to students ASAP even outside of office hours.
