Establish CLEAR Expectations

  Students want to know what is expected of them each week make sure your Assignments, Lectures and Course Documents are clear, understandable and concise.

 Try to distribute (balance) your course material evenly over the course of the 16 weeks and establish specific learning goals for each week and incorporate accountability for learning that material

 Eliminate ALL Gray Area from Course

 Make sure students can't interpret assignments in different ways.  I learned this the hard way don't assume the students know anything about the course content. Don?t be vague in how you write your Assignments or directions for discussions and homework. Make sure external links are functional and course content is current.

 Maintain Seamless and Fluid Communication

 Use the various communication tools on the Blackboard to maintain fluid communication with all your students. This can make or break an online class.  Online students want to know their instructor is responsive to their questions and concerns.  This is especially  critical the first few weeks of the class.

 Stay on Task

 The Blackboard is your forum for keeping students on task and answering questions, inspiring, and insuring they are accountable for the work, no matter what that may be.  It is your job as facilitator to guide the discussions back on topic if they get off track or task.

 Engage, Inspire and Challenge

 Devise teaching strategies that enable you to infuse your personality into the course. Make an effort to incorporate your enthusiasm and passion for your subject matter into the fiber of the class.

 Accountability is Key

 It's important to expect your online students to be ACCOUNTABLE for the course material.  I do this in our weekly discussions and homework assignments sent to the Blackboard Drop Box Discussion board and/or e-mail.  Assignments and discussions should not be open ended . How do you assess learning has occurred in your online course?

 Follow-Through on Your End

 Simply put, do what you say you are going to do when it comes to grades, discussions and feedback.  Don't be afraid to use viable shortcuts in your online classes.  No need to reinvent the wheel every semester when it comes to engaging students in weekly dialogue or sending out homework feedback.

 Give Viable Feedback

 Students like feedback! This is a given and it doesn't take much extra effort to add a few words next to their grade in the grade book or an announcement explaining how you came up with the grades.

 Post Announcements Regularly

 Keep students informed as to what they just learned, what they are going to learn and any special announcements that pertain to the course material like field trips, specials on TV or books and videos on reserve in the library.

 Share in the Learning Journey

 Lets face it we as teachers are constantly learning as well. I can't tell you how much I learn from my students so be open (and receptive) to what students have to offer in the learning process and let them know in subtle ways that you are on the learning journey as well, even though you are the guide / facilitator, keeping an open mind to new ways to view or discuss the material makes for healthy debate.

 Be Flexible

 There will be times students run into personal problems so try and be flexible with homework deadlines if and when a student has a viable reason for missing a deadline.  This takes the stress level down a notch for both teachers and students.

 Importance of Good Design

 You web pages should all incorporate solid design strategies that have visual impact, focal points and a visual hierarchy that directs your online students in, around and through your Assignment, Lecture and various course content pages.

 Make it FUN!!!

 I try to have some fun with my students in the context of learning ? there are many ways to do this.  Be creative and remember it is ok to have a sense of humor.  Your students will appreciate it!

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