Are you planning your fall course yet? Thinking about how an online course might differ from a face-to-face course or trying to overcome some obstacles with student expectations in your online course? Consider some of the following tips in this post on writing your online course syllabus in order to get your courses started with clear communication and expectations.
Online courses provide students with flexibility. They're available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so students can work when they have time to work. However, they sometimes also need help in those wee hours of the night or whenever they're working in the course, and they want you, the instructor to be available to help them. We know that's not always possible. We'd do anything to support our students, but we also have families, scholarship, other courses, hobbies, oh and sleep that take up our time. It's impossible to be as available to our students as the course content is.
Consider the following two methods for being upfront and open with students about how, when, and where to communicate and get help in an online course environment.
Online courses provide students with flexibility. They're available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so students can work when they have time to work. However, they sometimes also need help in those wee hours of the night or whenever they're working in the course, and they want you, the instructor to be available to help them. We know that's not always possible. We'd do anything to support our students, but we also have families, scholarship, other courses, hobbies, oh and sleep that take up our time. It's impossible to be as available to our students as the course content is.
Consider the following two methods for being upfront and open with students about how, when, and where to communicate and get help in an online course environment.
Communication Timeline
As with any syllabus, you'll provide students with contact information. With an online course, you should also include for students a good idea of when you'll be available for communication- responding to emails, answering phone calls, providing grade feedback. For example, you may state that you'll answer emails within 24 hours and are available for phone calls from 9am-4pm.
Before deciding when students should expect a response from you or be able to get an immediate response from you, consider your learners and assignments. Are your students mainly working full time? If so, do they need evening and weekend support? When are your assignments due? Sunday night? Will students have questions as they work over the weekend? Do students need grade feedback before moving on to the next assignment?
Being upfront about your availability and responsiveness will allay any frustrations students might encounter when they're not getting their question answered as quickly as they think they should.
Communication Procedures
Consider providing students with ways to answer one another's questions. Also, provide them with contact information for support that you're not comfortable providing such as with Blackboard or other technical support.
The following is a sample communication procedure statement that you can modify:
- First, ask questions about the content or assignments through the "Muddiest Point" discussion board. Check this forum often to find common questions and to provide answers for your peers.
- Second, if you are having issues with Blackboard, contact the Office of Online Learning at 803-323-2212 or blackboard@winthrop.edu or visit the office at 307 Tillman Hall. If you are having other technical issues, contact the Service Desk at 803-323-2400 or helpdesk@winthrop.edu or visit the Help Desk at 15 Tillman Hall. These offices are open during regular business hours Monday-Friday.
- Third, after trying steps one and two, email your instructor at lastname@winthrop.edu. I should return your emails within 24 hours on weekdays and within 48 hours on weekends. In your email, please include your first and last name, the name of the course, and a clear description of the problem, issue, or question. Include screenshots if possible or necessary.
Even with these procedures, some students will probably still skip straight to emailing you with questions and concerns. Remind them of the procedures, and ask them to post questions to the forum in the future. Also, thank students who are conscientious about answering their peers' questions.
So that you don't miss questions on the forum, which may be called "Muddiest Point," "Ask a Question," etc. it would be best to subscribe to the forum. By subscribing, you will receive email notifications for new postings. In order to subscribe to a forum in Blackboard, go to your course discussions, click on the name of the forum, and in the top left, click Subscribe. You may even encourage students to subscribe to this forum.
Closing Thoughts
When you provide students with the above information, you'll find much less frustration and miscommunication in your online course. Also, the more you teach your course online, the easier it will become to identify some of the areas where students need more content support, more explicit directions, and more clear information.
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