Communicating in Your Course - University Of Cincinnati



Communicating in Your Course How will I communicate with my students?Communication is key to getting to know your students, sharing updates, helping students with difficult concepts, and giving feedback. It is particularly important to consider how you will communicate with your students in an online teaching environment. Start of the SemesterWelcome your students to your course at the beginning of the semester and share the best way(s) students can contact you (e.g., email, course Q&A Discussion Board, Microsoft Teams) as well as how soon students should expect a response (e.g., 24 hours on weekdays, 48 hours on weekends). Ask your students to share a bit about themselves with you and their fellow classmates (e.g., Discussion Board, survey, video). A personalized welcome goes a long way (e.g. a short welcome video about you and the course, a welcome email, a welcome message on the course homepage).How will you introduce yourself?How will your students introduce themselves? What do you most want to know about your students at the very beginning of the course? Here is information about a brief beginning of the course survey you can adapt to your own course.Weekly Communication Share regular announcements throughout the week providing updates, reminders, tips for success, and additional resources. Consider a beginning of the week communication on a consistent day (e.g., Monday) outlining the week and relevant updates. You may need to remind students to double check that they will receive notifications about announcements and/or subscribe to a course Q&A Discussion Board. What will you include in your announcements? How often will you post announcements?What method will you use to communicate with individual students during the week? Responding to immediate needs in the courseConsider sending individual messages to students who are struggling or not keeping up with deadlines. Also, try to send messages to students who are doing well. The Grading and Feedback [add link] worksheet has more details on responding to both the class as a whole and individual students.How will you respond to individual student questions? Do they email you directly or post questions to a course discussion board? Do you want to stipulate an email return policy (e.g. 24 hours weekday, 48 hours weekend)?Identify dates when progress reports for students would be helpful. How will you communicate progress reports? Will you target students that need to improve to pass the class, or will you provide progress reports to the whole class?Office hoursStudents may not be aware of how office hours are used in your course. Share examples of how students could use office hours and how students can attend. If possible, use an online scheduling tool to find times that work for the greatest number of students. Consider using WebEx or Microsoft Teams to hold live virtual office hours.What are some example of how students could use office hours? When and how will you hold office hours? ................
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