Instructor Expectations

Establishing and Maintaining Instructor Presence

When a course is fully developed, the heart of the teaching process is the learning forums. Engagement in the forums counts for up to 50% of the credit hours for online courses, thus they are a critical part of the teaching and learning experience.  We also know from research that a strong ‘teacher presence’ in the course – including discussion – is the single most important predictor of student satisfaction and learning.

• Post a self-introduction no later than the first day of class, and invite students to introduce themselves. This can be done via a Canvas using the Rich-Content Editor tool. Assistance is available from COE’s studio with video production (requires advance planning). Contact your program representative if you want assistance.
  
• Welcome each student personally as they introduce themselves.  Research shows personal welcomes put students at ease, create a connection to you as the instructor, and helps to establish a supportive social climate for learning.
• Participate actively and regularly in the learning forums (at least 3 times/week).  A strong ‘teacher presence’ is critical to student satisfaction and learning.  This does not mean responding to each and every post, but being visibly present and providing appropriate facilitation to:
  • Extend learning.  Because content is only updated once or twice/year, the learning forums provide a venue for you to share new information and insights on relevant topics.  This might include news items/current events, developments in the field, new discoveries/innovations, etc. 
  • Diagnose and address misconceptions.  Step in when students are confused, lack appropriate understanding, etc.
  • Challenge assumptions, promote critical inquiry. In a constructive way, push students to challenge themselves, think critically, etc. Our objective in a university-based course is to promote critical thinking and practical inquiry.
  • Look for areas of consensus.  Help students see how their learning is progressing as a group.
  • Draw out different perspectives.  Particularly in an interdisciplinary course, try to draw out different perspectives so that students learn from their peers who have different occupational roles or experiences.

Communication Tools

News Announcements & Open Forums

• Post helpful reminders to students.  Use the News Announcements Forum to remind students of important deadlines, or share information about upcoming events.  Note that students will not be able to respond to your posts on the News Announcements Forum.
• Encourage students to use the Open Forum.  This is a good place for students to post information, create their own conversation streams (outside the topics addressed by the learning forums).

A note of caution: If a student uses this or any forum for promotional purposes, please notify them immediately that this is not appropriate.  If you prefer, you can also refer such issues to your program management team.

Email

• Check your course email (OLC Mail) regularly.  Emails sent directly to you are seen only by you.  In view of accepted conventions around email communication, please respond to emails within two business days or sooner. Faster turnaround is likely needed toward the end of each week and right before assignment due dates. 
  • We do not recommend giving out your personal email as it is better to keep all communications with a student directly in the LMS.
• Follow up personally with non-participating students.  Once a student misses 2-3 lessons, the student should be referred to the program administration staff for withdrawal.

When You Are Away

 If you expect to away from class for 3-5 days due to work or life commitments,

• Notify students via the News Forum. Be sure to tell them what they should do in your absence (e.g. “I am going out of town (or I will be offline) over the next few days, but will be back on XX date.  Please continue working on your assignment X and participating in the discussion forum.  Your assignment is still due on XX and I will grade them when I return.”) 

If you expect to be away from class for more than 5 days,

• Make specific arrangements with your program representative in advance.
• Arrange for a guest discussant/instructor.
• Consider co-teaching the course that quarter.

Grading

• Post grades promptly.  We expect students to honor their deadlines. Similarly, students expect timely feedback to aid their learning.  Please grade learning forum contributions and assignments promptly, within 7-days or sooner if assignments build on one another. You might also communicate your expected turnaround in the syllabus and/or News Forum.  

• Give constructive feedback.  Whether you are grading a learning forum contribution, homework assignment, or project, students are looking for you to provide constructive feedback along with their grade point.  This feedback is critical to students’ learning. Additionally, there are tools within SpeedGrader that will allow you to post audio or video feedback on assignments, which studies have found a single audio response increases student retention by 200%.
• Submit final course grades within 14 days of course completion. 

A note about grade access: Students will not be able to view their final grades, only the points received on individual assignments/assessments. However, each student receives an official grade report from UCD CPE approximately 7-10 days after grades are submitted.