Writing Clear Expectations and Goals

• Discussions
  • Give the students a required number of postings per day/week and be very clear on what they should include. Include this in the grade. Here's an example.
  • Include a page that discusses the ethics of communication online.
  • Give the students a rationale for student to student interaction in the bulletin board and chat room. Be clear about the purpose of posts. Are they to facilitate dialogue and reflection OR are they simply a "post" of an assignment? Decide and then clearly communicate this to the students. Here's a sample rationale from a syllabus.
• Assignments
  • Include a page that is the course calendar or assignment checklist that clearly shows what students should do each day/week. This is the equivalent of the teacher assignment reminders at the end of each class period in a face to face session. Here's an example.
  • For your own ease, when putting dates in the course, put them only in a couple places, otherwise refer to as week 1, 2, etc. This way you won't have as much to change the next time you teach the class.
  • Plan routines into your class. If you have divided the instruction into routines or modules, require the same kinds of activities for each module. For example, each module, you may require some reading online, some reading in a textbook, a quiz, and discussion on the reading in the Discussion area. Routine or structure in the online class is like the walls of the classroom. It creates familiarity and comfort for the students. They become comfortable with the class because they have learned the routine.
• Expectations of You
  • Articulate what students can expect from you - how much interaction, how often you will log into the class, times when you won't be able to login, etc. Make sure they know how and when to contact you and what your role is in the class.
  • Make students aware of the tools you can use to track their activity in the course. Tell them you can track them.

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© 2001 AVLN. Active Online Learning course prepared by Marilyn Eggers, Shirley Freed & Janine Lim.