I agree with Herbert. Establishing upfront communication with the student at the onset of class if extremely important. I always feature a welcome letter that outlines the title of the course, the objectives, and reminds them to access valuable resources such as the syllabus, assignment list, and more. I also provide all of my contact information, including office hours, to let them know that I am there for support. I think fostering a supportive and encouraging atmosphere can really get them excited for what's to come!
Here is a sample that I use:
"Welcome, class!
My name is Desiree D'Alessandro and I am excited to be your Intro to Drawing Instructor for the next 5 weeks. DESIGN130 introduces the tools and techniques of drawing. Principles of composition, balance, rhythm, color, line, texture, and light are addressed through a series of studio assignments. Your success in this online course will better prepare you for a career in Graphic Design. It is my pleasure to assist you, challenge you, and watch you develop on this promising journey!
To begin, thoroughly familiarize yourself with the online course environment and review all of the course content, especially the Syllabus, Course Materials, and the Assignments List, which features an outline of the Individual Projects (IPs) and Discussion Boards (DBs). Please note the corresponding weekly deadlines. I want everyone to do well by following instructions, meeting deadlines, and maintaining communication with me should you have any questions or concerns. Please contact me in advance if you run into difficulties or if something comes up where you will not be able to meet a deadline or participate in the course. I can be reached via email [XXX], Google Voice [XXX], and during my office hours [Mon. 6-8PM CST]. I will respond to all correspondence in less than 24 hours.
I look forward to meeting and working with all of you in the Live Chat Sessions and Discussion Boards. Likewise, you should all be excited to work with each other–your fellow classmates! XXX provides a great atmosphere for exchanging ideas and collective learning. Let us all work hard together and have fun!
Best,
Desiree D'Alessandro, MFA"
This is true. We have to be very clear as an instructor of the expectations on the projects. Students can more easily get confused on the projects.
- Ty
I always allow resubmissions of assignments. This gives the students an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. I find that with most online classes the students will do the work if they are given the chance.
- Ty
Ty,
Do you just punish them with a low grade or do you allow them a couple of opportunities to increase that grade? Sometimes online learning is new to students and it takes them a couple of assignments to decipher your instructions and the way you teach. What about expectations for you as the instructor? Should students expect certain behaviors from you?
Herbert Brown III
Ty,
Can you be a little more specific on your statement? I agree you have to be a good listener and you have to provide students the direct feedback they need to be successful in the course.
Herbert Brown III
Jean,
I agree. I tweak my expectations statements on my syllabi for my courses almost every semester based on that semester's questions and concerns that are raised.
Herbert Brown III
With online it is a bit different. The main rule is deadlines are the most important. Also following instructions. These should be clear and the best solution is to give the student a low grade if they do not follow directions and clearly explain that to them.
- Ty
For me contributing in an online class has mostly to do with being a good listener and understanding what students need to succeed.
- Ty
Herbert,
I thank you for your comments. It is so important to have details in the class as online students are generally doing their work in the later part of the evenings or weekends where they do not have access to the instructor.
The other area, you have to consider, is the clearer your expectations are, the less questions and we all know that translates to less time.
Jean
Yes. I like to know how my students want to be communicated with and what topics they feel are valuable. Clearly we have to meet the course objectives but at the same time, if we have extra time, I like to spend it on topics that are of interest to them. This helps further engage them in the class and helps with long term memory (at least in my experience).
David,
So if I read your comments correctly you are saying we should ask our students what their expectations are for the course. I agree. Their feedback can also be used to help the students understand the content of the course relative to their experience and therefore what they expect to get from the course. Would you also be asking the students for their expectations for the instructor in the course and what they expect the instructor to do in the course?
Herbert Brown III
I think it is critical that we ask students for their expectations. I teach marketing and sales courses and they are all about knowing what the customer wants. If we don't know what they are expecting it is difficult to meet or exceed that. This is critical.
Jean,
Very detailed, thanks for sharing your process, it really shows the detail that can be included. As I am sure you have found, the more detail you can include at the beginning of the course the less likely students are to misunderstand or misinterpret their course assignments and activities.
Herbert Brown III
Herbert,
With numerous amount of posts here, it would be difficult to come up with anything that has not been mentioned. I do feel that two areas that are very important to emphasize in Faculty Expectations are to give information what students should expect from you, and to also give them some tips for success. This will also serve as an icebreaker and would help build community within the class. I will give you an example of these two sections of my faculty expectations that I use in a doctoral HR class:
What Students in This Course Can Expect of Me
A bit about me: I have posted my biography in a separate post to give you more information about me. I look forward to reading your introductions and getting to know you. Please respond by Day 2 of Week 1 if not sooner - -the thread is found in the “Class Caféâ€. Here’s a brief background about me. I have a great deal of professional and teaching experience within Human Resource Management and Finance. Compensation and Benefits are two areas within Human Resources that I have a particular passion for as these involve an opportunity to integrate Financial Theory and applications into Human Resources! I have extensive experience teaching Management, Finance and Human Resource Management online and within the traditional classroom, as well as teaching within adult certification programs. Since earning my Ph.D. at XYZ University in the areas of Human Resource Management and Marketing, I have held a number of professional roles within the HR field and have published in a variety of scholarly and professional journals in the fields of Compensation and Benefits. I am looking forward to hearing more about your experiences and learning from you as well.
My Approach to Our Class:
My role in the class is to actively engage with each of you. I am here as your Mentor and Coach. As you will learn, there are often no single "right answers" to the problems we will address in this course. As your coach, I will participate with you in the discussion threads and guide you to enhance your thinking about your analysis of the problem. If I ask a lot of questions of you - that's good. It's meant to help you to expand your thoughts, validate your arguments and guide you on your journey of problem identification and solution crafting. You'll soon notice I am very actively engaged in the threads--so I hope you will take advantage of my high involvement in your learning experience. The more you are engaged in our discussion threads-- the classroom -- the more likely it is that you will both learn the material AND be successful in the class - fulfilling the rubrics for each assignment.
Finally, I want you to know upfront that I'm a "straight shooter"...I'll correct you when you've taken a turn down the wrong path, sometimes even correcting you (privately) on some pretty basic grammar/spelling errors that you should not be making at this point in your careers. I have really high standards-- and I take lots of time to make sure you reach the bar and come away feeling you've learned a bunch. Please don't misinterpret my genuine interest in your learning as personal criticism-- my involvement in your learning - providing extensive feedback in discussions and assignments is to help you reach your personal best. I will be pointing out errors and areas for improvement. It's a partnership-- and I expect you to work at the Graduate Level/Walden expectations and to get a great deal from our course.
Some Final Tips for Success:
First, please relax.. . I've been teaching for three decades and teaching online for over a decade and can most certainly tell you from first-hand experience the effect of regular participation and interaction on student grades. I noticed that consistently, those students who actively participated, posted lots of engaging and substantive responses and questions, and engaged actively in the conversation ended up with better assignments and better grades on assignments and participation than those who simply answered the discussion questions and then didn't engage with others much beyond that. It's your choice how much you want to participate, but my advice to you is to stay active, using your classmates and me as coaches to help you think about and address the issues we are exploring. I also noticed that those students who earned the best grades read the messages and responses to other students as well - and generalized and incorporated comments to them into their own responses. In other words, they actively compared their own interpretation of the readings to the comments posted about other classmates' and took to heart all of the messages. They didn't expect (or wait for) an individual response to every one of their messages (which, by the way, you won't get through the entire course). Rather, they considered themselves as part of an active and live discussion, and they listened to all voices and applied what they heard to their own thinking.
Makes sense? GREAT! So head out and ….(given the length of this note—you may have lost track of these points noted at the outset of the post)
1) If you haven't already done so, Print and Read the Syllabus-- Mark your personal calendar now with all due dates noted in our classroom calendar.
2) Participation. The bar is high in this class-- I'll be looking for substantive responses in all your class postings -- make sure you understand the threshold and reach this threshold. You'll be expected to look for connections to the readings, the questions and the assignments. Concept synthesis and integration is a heavily weighted component of grading on your discussion responses and the papers you'll prepare throughout our class.
3) Complete your readings each week as soon as possible so you can apply the concepts as required into your classroom poss. ASK QUESTIONS-- if it's unclear, let me help you make it crystal clear!!
4) After reading all my posts EACH and EVERY WEEK, ask questions-- take advantage of my high involvement and my genuine interest in helping you master these concepts. Stay on top of things and partner with me to make your experience in this very challenging and demanding course a success-- success defined as learning much and getting a good grade.
5) Head to the Class Café to introduce yourself and meet and greet peers.
6) Get into the habit of reading all Course Announcements and checking “Ask Your Instructor†each and every time you enter the course for important updates and helpful hints I’ll be providing on a regular basis. Together, I trust that we will have an exciting, stimulating, and rewarding class and we will learn much about the theory and research presented in this course. We have lots to learn from each another – so let’s get going!
Ann,
I like what you are saying here. There is (or should be) a very PERSONAL element to all courses including online courses. All students need quality feedback and effective communication. With poor communication students feel completely disconnected in all aspects of the course.
Herbert Brown III
Ann,
Clear and concise goals and expectations are a great start. The more you can clarify before it becomes an issue, the less likely you will be to have to deal with problems later in the course. The expectations that you mention here suggest mostly student expectations. Should there be instructor expectations too so that the students know what to expect from their instructor in the course?
Herbert Brown III
I agree that trust would be more difficult when you don't have the student in front of you and see their body language. Also you cannot read minds and the student may not even let you know how they feel.
You need to reach out to the students and make them feel secure and supportative. Therefore you will build trust
I feel setting goals from the beginning of the class. Tell the student exactly what is expected of him/her. Including when assignments are due, turnaround times, conditions under when you can give extensions when a student needs more time and policies governing plagiarism.
Loretta,
These can be hard things to demonstrate online. Have you had any success with this? What kinds of things have you done that have worked for you?
Herbert Brown III
Number one is gaining the students trust, and showing them that you care.
