Instructor-Student Interaction
Evidence from studies of online courses indicates that the “sense of caring” encourages students to persist – and it is a reasonable assumption that this holds true for remote/hybrid courses as well. The studies show that this “caring” is manifested when the instructor does the following:
- Posts frequently
- Invites student questions
- Responds to students quickly
- Solicits and incorporates student feedback
Post frequently
Students count on having an instructor who is engaged, available, and present in the classroom. Nowhere is this more true (and its absence more notable) than in an online course. Students want to sense their instructor is there with them and guiding their efforts. This certainly does not mean being online 24/7, nor at the constant beck or call of your students. Rather, students’ confidence that you are present in the course increases when you post regularly. Many students, accustomed to rhythmic contact from their friends and social media, will benefit from an orderly schedule of contact from their instructor. Are Mondays your day for posting announcements outlining the work coming in the week ahead? Will Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays be your days for responding to discussion board posts? Establish a routine that works best for your schedule and the structure of your course.
Invite student questions
Students will feel their questions are welcomed if you have processes and modalities in place to make it easy for students to ask questions. Consider proving various ways for students to ask for help. When structuring this portion of your class delivery, it’s a great time to think about students’ access to technology and how they will interact with you. Be sure to consider offering more than one way for students to reach you. Modalities might include:
- office hours on Zoom
- a phone number where students could reach you directly (or text)
- email, such as in the Canvas mail function
- synchronous email during specified times
- discussion boards on Canvas (“Ask Me Here” or “Muddiest Point” forums)
Lastly, remember to reach out to those students you think you should be hearing from – but aren’t.
Respond to students quickly
Flower Darby reinforces the importance of feedback in online teaching, mentioning many times when students submit something (assignments, questions, etc.) it can feel akin to sending them to “outer space”. For students who are used to immediate feedback from their social media connections, outlining your timelines can help put them at ease. Let students know via your syllabus what your agreement is for turn-around times. Will you be grading student work every Wednesday? Each Friday and Saturday? And when will you be posting the grades, comments, and feedback? Clearly communicating this information up front is important to students.
Using comments for timely, personalized feedback on each assignment is a great way to keep your students motivated, and to provide feedback to students – both those who are struggling, and those who are performing capably. great. It’s a nice way to check in with students (one of the 4 Connections). The “message students who…” feature of Canvas is a great tool for providing timely feedback to students. Here are some instructions for using this feature from the Canvas Community pages.
Solicit and incorporate student feedback
How is your teaching positively affecting student learning (or negatively)? How much (and which aspects) of the course content are they learning? And to what extent?
Seeking the answers to questions like these accomplishes both an important education goal of seeking feedback about the students and your course, but also is a great way to connect with the students, demonstrating care.
Consider using techniques such as a mid-quarter evaluation, a start-stop-continue exercise, or use formative assessment to get insight into your students’ learning, with a goal of determining what additional scaffolding might be useful for students before they tackle more ‘high stakes’ assessments.
Professional development opportunities
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Related Books in the LTC Collection
References
Jaggers, S. S., and Xu, D. (2013). Predicting online student outcomes from a measure of course quality. CCRC Working Paper No. 57. Community College Research Center at Teacher’s College, Columbia.