Use a bank of comments that are precise, detailed, and clear. The smart online educator is the one who has a bank of comments from which he/she can draw on to give students feedback on any number of items in the course. But there are two important items here that will make these precast comments most effective: 1) Have comments point out not only when something is wrong but also why it is wrong and how to get it right. In this manner, each comment becomes a mini teacher’s aide in the assignment. 2) Adjust (personalize) any comment as is necessary when your comment as written does not exactly match the problem you see in the student’s assignment. This way each comment is a perfect fit for the error, allowing the student to learn more fully.

Do not point out each error a student makes. While students look to you for feedback that will help them improve, this is college, and thus more responsibility falls on the student than in a high school course. Therefore, unless you come across an error in an assignment that you believe is grievous, unusual, or complex enough that a previous comment should be posted again, only point out each new problem once. The following can help encourage students to use their own efforts to hunt out other similar problems that may occur in their assignment: 1) In your overall comment—at the end of the assignment—write something like this: “NOTE: To help you when additional errors have occurred but I have not noted them, I have inserted a + sign at the end of a comment if that error occurs more than once in your essay.” [b] Be sure to insert the + sign at the end of any error if that error has popped up more than once.

No matter the course, be sure you indicate any proofreading errors. Proofreading has nothing to do with knowing how to write. Rather, errors are an indication that the student has rushed through the assignment. This is a habit that must be nipped immediately, as it can prove to be disastrous in many ways outside of school: in a resume, contract proposal, executive summary, report, etc. I take off major points for proofreading errors, and I include in poor proofreading not incorporating any of my draft comments into a final copy of the assignment.

Always point out at least a few positives in various portions of the student’s assignment and in the overall comment. No one likes to read negative after negative after negative. It can be very discouraging. So let the student know a few instances where he or she has gotten it right—or nearly right. This helps take the sting out of an assignment that is loaded with errors, and can serve as a motivator that tells the student he/she does understand and is going in the right direction at times. And carry this through in the overall comment, at the end of the assignment: Be motivational, tell the student to build on your comments, give one major plus comment, and always let the student know you are available for any questions he/she might have.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for 17 years and has a national reputation in the subject, and in writing about and conducting workshops on distance learning. He is currently putting the finishing touches on two online-teaching books.

Excerpted from Teaching Online with Errol: The Online Educator’s Complete Guide to Grading Assignments. Online Classroom (April 2011): 6,8.

The following suggestions (broken into two parts: outside the assignments, i.e., for the course in general, and inside the assignments, i.e., approaches to grading each major assignment) will ensure that you offer students the most useful and positive grading.

Post a worksheet that helps students view your online assignment comments. Many students are new to online courses, and thus have not had experience with assignments being marked and graded online. This could translate into students not having their computers correctly set so they can see your reviewing/tracking feature comments. To minimize this problem, post a sheet—on day one—somewhere in class that students can always access, to give them instructions on how to properly set their computers to view your comments.

Send the students an email indicating that you expect the first assignment grade to be their lowest of the course. Students are often shocked by their first grades in a course, especially if they are new to college, new to the subject (or have not taken a course in the subject for quite some time), and/or you are the type of instructor who is especially thorough. These low grades can be discouraging, but you can offset this by posting an announcement that lets students know you expect their first grades to be the worst in the course (as they have not had prior feedback or assistance from you), and that what is most important in your course is their overall improvement. Further, tell the students that rather than being upset by the grade they should use it as a guide to help them improve. Add that you are not concerned about it because you know the students will simply build on it and become better.

Be sure there are ample resources available to assist students throughout the course. Students will have textbooks and other course-mandated resources, but anything additional you can add to help students understand their lessons in the course, and thus give them as much information as possible to do quality assignments, is a huge plus. Remember that any course set up by a school offers information for the general class; it is you, the instructor, who can augment these resources through additional readings, helpful websites, audio/video clips, and other items that offer additional insights, explanations, and information on the subject(s).

Prior to each upcoming major assignment, post motivational and reminder announcements. Start off each week or session prior to the next major assignment with an announcement, using an audio file such as .mp3 or creating audio using NanoGong, to personalize your concerns and interests in students doing well. This message reminds students of major errors you have seen in the most recent assignment, your suggestions for doing well on the next assignment, and the connection between this academic assignment and their real world of work. This last item is especially important, as it is a nice link between what may seem like work to merely get a grade and preparation to enhance their efforts in the professional workplace.

No matter how clear and detailed your comments, expect students to write “I-don’t-get-it” emails. You could win a Nobel Prize for assignment feedback clarity and students will always write to you about how they are confused, don’t understand, or need more clarification. This is a great thing, actually, and seldom has anything to do with your feedback not being good enough. Rather, you have students who really are interested in improving, to the point that they want to fully understand what you’ve pointed out. These students have taken the time to ask for more feedback (with some exceptions, the ones who really don’t care are not going to take the time to ask for additional assistance). Even if the student’s primary reason for asking is to receive a good final grade in the course, this gives you an opportunity to teach a bit more. So be sure to respond to the student in a timely manner by email, audio message, or phone.

Note: Part 2 of this article will appear on Thursday.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for 17 years and has a national reputation in the subject, and in writing about and conducting workshops on distance learning. He is currently putting the finishing touches on two online-teaching books.

Excerpted from Teaching Online with Errol: The Online Educator’s Complete Guide to Grading Assignments. Online Classroom (April 2011): 6,8.

The following are suggestions for conveying a positive, supportive, and enthusiastic personality.

Establish a friendly and inviting personality on day one of class. You have only one chance to make a first impression, and in the online classroom this is especially true—and important—as your personality on day one can be examined, experienced, and revisited throughout the course. Thus, any postings on day one that speak of you must convey that you care about the class, the students, and the subject, and that you are looking forward to the course and are eager to help your students.

Never confuse personality with teaching strategy. One can have the right—the best—teaching strategies ever created, yet a bland or dull online personality can make those teaching strategies nothing more than two-dimensional. Once those strategies are sprinkled with heavy doses of an upbeat and just downright nice personality, they truly come alive—and the students will react in a more engaged manner.

Sometimes you may need be an actor who wears the right personality. Your everyday, “Hey, this is me” personality might not be the one that is right for online teaching, and that’s fine…as long as you can play the role of an online instructor with a great, enthusiastic personality for your students (as well as your online supervisors, support team, and colleagues). Students take their lead from you—the way you come across to them will determine just how engaged and motivated they remain throughout the course.

Use your interest in the subject to help build your online teaching personality. You were selected to teach your subject partially because of your academic and/or professional expertise and interest in the subject, so share it with your students. Beyond what has been prestocked in your course, you can add articles, pictures, essays, cartoons, interviews, YouTube (and the like) snippets, and factoids that add richness and depth to your subject. The students will immediately know you really are “into” the subject, and your excitement and enthusiasm for the subject will spill over to your students.

Control knee-jerk reactions. Students can write or do things that get us upset. And we can make egregious errors in our hasty reactions to these student mistakes and oversights that may not only cost us our students’ respect and rapport, but possibly our jobs as well. So hold back—take some time before you respond, and if you don’t have the time—such as in a live chat, a phone call, or a videoconference—always remember that your actions and reactions are not merely yours but also the school’s, and because you are the instructor you are always held to a higher standard than your students are.

Be careful of your vocabulary choice. Each of us has words we use on a regular basis; they are part of who and what we are, and they often simply pour out. But our online courses demand that we pay special attention to the words we write, the context of those words, and the perception of the message we are trying to get across. Once posted, our words will live on throughout the course, and thus we must focus on the vocabulary we choose.

Help your personality come alive with audio and/or audiovisual. Today’s technology allows us to get closer to our students—and lets our personalities really shine through. Skype, MP3, Twitter, Facebook, Jing, Adobe Connect, Prezi, Wimba, and other tools can take us to our students in an audio and/or visual way and thus allows students to see and hear an instructor who is excited, enthusiastic, caring, and dedicated to his or her students, the subject, and the course.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for 17 years and has a national reputation in the subject, writing and conducting workshops on distance learning. He is currently putting the finishing touches on two online teaching books.

Excerpted from Teaching Online with Errol: Personality DOES Matter in Teaching Online! Online Classroom (Oct. 2010): 6,7.

The following are the crucial basics we who teach online must always remember, and keep at the forefront of our teaching. They worked well in the early days of online instruction, and they continue to prove their importance today:

An engaging online personality counts. Having the right teaching strategies and wowing the students with gee-whiz software programs and audiovisual clips are important in today’s online teaching environment, but if you don’t have an online personality that is friendly, inviting, and engaging, students will quickly become less motivated and less involved in the course. Just as in a face-to-face class, students online react to the instructor personality that they “see,” “hear,” and “feel”—and no amount of technical correctness and special effects can take the place of an online instructor’s personality.

Make sure you are a constant presence in the classroom. It has become so easy to place an online class on autopilot: the students read everything that’s needed … a number of resources (including audiovisual) are in place and can be added to offer them additional course involvement … assignment drop boxes, discussion threads, and live chats can all be set up ahead of time. With all these available, who needs an online instructor? Simple: your students do. The more your students see you in class—in discussions, chats, classwide and individual postings, comments on assignments—the more excited they will be about the course. You are there not only to motivate them and spur them on but also to answer their many questions, to guide them in the right direction, to explain why something on an assignment is incorrect, and to remind them of the subject’s importance in their lives. So be in the class often—it really helps your students enjoy the online learning experience.

Stress the basics of your course by writing about them. It is easy to grab a YouTube explanation of nearly any subject, and posting pictures and videos can do much to give further detail on an item. But reading explanations and insights and suggestions and experiences and ideas from and of the instructor becomes like presenting the students The Ten Commandments on a stone tablet, for these all come from you, in your writing, and specifically for the students. It is intimate and enthusiastic, important and meaningful—and something the students can take with them and use far beyond the end of your course. You are the teacher of the online course, you are the guru whom the students seek out and depend upon—your words (and lots of them) are important in the course, so be sure you deliver them often.

Focus on your writing. Yes, I urge you to write often to your students—but be aware of how you write: sentence structure, vocabulary selection, proofreading, clarity, and (most important) the end user. Your writing is a direct reflection on you—students are holding you up to a higher standard than they have for themselves, as they should, and you need to produce at that higher level—and this includes your writing.

Take the time to know your students. While it is rare to be able to see your students (sometimes, Skype or the like is used by instructors) and thus know a little about them through visual observation, the online teaching environment gives you a constant in-depth look at your students—their backgrounds, hopes, fears, professional and personal interests, course concerns, etc. But if you don’t use this information to get each student more motivated, more engaged, more excited about your course, and giving his or her all to learn, this trove of information is wasted. Rather than be an online instructor who gives the impression of teaching to nameless and faceless masses, bring certain portions of student information into your teaching for the whole class and much of it for each student (on assignment feedback and in private exchanges). This individual, personal approach to your course goes a long way in having a close student-instructor rapport while keeping those students continually active in your course.

Read books, journals, and other materials to improve your teaching. I’m not talking about online articles: no, don’t stop reading these (anything to improve your teaching prowess and subject knowledge should be embraced), but rather don’t forget about good old books and magazines and journals with pages we need to turn by hand. Having a library of these is motivating. They can be taken anywhere and often cannot be found online. Print materials often contain much more extensive research, footnotes, and material, as they usually are not written for the “I-don’t-have-much-time-to-read-this-so-please-summarize-it” online reader.

Be on time, dependable, and enthusiastic. These three biggies speak for themselves—being on time is expected, and when it doesn’t happen students (as well as administrators) get upset; dependability is a core value for any teacher, but more so for the online instructor, as there are so many more components involved in keeping an online course running smoothly; and enthusiasm tells the students you want to be there, you like being there—and this rubs off on them. Never forget about these three, as each is a core element in online teaching.

Keep a teaching journal. Jotting down your successes and failures, unexpected situations, new ideas and resources, problems you couldn’t solve and those you did (including the solutions), new student concerns, etc., will give you a nice resource on how to make each course better, smoother, richer, and more enjoyable—for you and the students. In the end, you want to be an online teacher who succeeds—gloriously—because YOU are a teacher who knows how to teach; once you can do this, then you can bring in all the whistles and bells you’d like, for you will control them, not they you.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 15 years and has a national reputation in the subject, both writing and conducting workshops on it. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his next book—How to Become the Perfect Online Instructor.

Excerpted from “Teach Online Like It’s 1990 … and Refresh Your Teaching Prowess! Online Classroom.” Online Classroom (August 2010): 6-7. Print.

Some students will really tick you off. You need to be motivating and positive and nurturing in all correspondence with your students. That is what each school emphasizes—and it is, of course, the right thing to do. But make no mistake: you will have students in every class who really upset you. You will have students who ask the most basic of questions (and leave you wondering how they made it to college). You will have students who just “don’t get it” no matter how many times you explain something. And, yes, you will have students who blame you for their poor performance in class—even though you know it fully rests on them.

You will never have enough time. In a face-to-face class there are set days to teach, but online teaching offers—boasts!—24/7 access, and thus you will constantly be getting student assignments (many on time, but some always late), emails and webmails, and discussion postings. All need be addressed in a fairly short amount of time (and some schools require response within 24 hours). And added to this are weekly and/or daily postings that you need and/or are required to do. Yeah, plan out your day and use all the time management tricks you’d like, but the fact remains that you can’t control the number or timing of emails/webmails, discussion postings, and assignment submissions students make, so know you’ll always be in a time crunch when teaching online.

Not all support staff or supervisors will have your back. In all websites and initial conversations with the “powers that be” at your school, a love fest seems to be taking place when it comes to the promised support and appreciation for your efforts from any professional at the school who comes in contact with you, directly or indirectly. This is not always true. Schools may have folks in positions that impact you directly (e.g., evaluators, supervisors, course schedulers) or indirectly (e.g., IT support, payroll, upper management) who either have no teaching experience or look at you merely as a number filling a teaching slot. These kinds of folks can really reduce your excitement for teaching at the school—but don’t let that happen. Usually—and the operative word here is usually—these individuals are a small portion of the overall school staff, most of whom are competent and supportive of you.

You will get blamed for problems that are not your fault. You can be the best online instructor this world has ever produced and you’ll still have students who insist that you are a lousy teacher or that you have insulted them by what you wrote or that you never returned their work (even though it was never sent in) or that you are biased or that you never explained an assignment or procedures (even though they were clearly explained, and in plenty of time). And don’t be so surprised if a supervisor or two and/or support staff also read you the wrong way or misinterpret what you wrote or did. All of this is the way things work in any teaching environment, but because of the overwhelming use of the written word in online teaching it can seem out of proportion. Just be gentle and patient in your responses—and be sure you always have a paper trail to back up your defense.

Evaluations can be unfair. It’s de rigueur for schools to have you evaluated—by your students, by your supervisor, and/or by an evaluation team. Of course, to do well on one of these you need to be sure you follow all your school’s policies, procedures, and “best practices,” as well as be an active, enthusiastic, and timely instructor in your class(es). But even if you believe your score in all these areas is 100 percent, don’t be surprised if you have some evaluations that are negative in one or more categories: sometimes evaluators don’t get it right, students can lash out at you in revenge (for poor grades, for example), or you just may have misinterpreted a school policy. Read over the negative evaluation, with its explanation, and if you feel it’s wrong, do respond to the appropriate party—but be prepared to back up your defense.

You will feel burned out and drained at times. Online teaching can be taxing. Staring at a computer screen for hours on end, sitting in a chair for all that time, editing and grading assignment after assignment, responding to so many webmails/emails and discussion postings, and placating whomever you need to placate at your school can eventually pull you down, defeat your spirits, rob your enthusiasm—no matter how chipper, upbeat, happy, and positive you start out. Know how to recharge yourself, because these down times will occasionally tap you on the shoulder.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 15 years and has a national reputation in the subject, both writing and conducting workshops on it. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his next book—How to Become the Perfect Online Instructor.

Excerpted from Sull, Errol C. “Teaching Online With Errol: The Underbelly of Online Teaching: Be Sure You Are Aware of It.” Online Classroom (June 2010): 6,8. Print.

To ensure that your responses to student postings in discussion are effective, incorporate the following ideas:

The umbrella fact for all your responses: everyone in the class can read your postings. Each time we respond to a student posting we are also posting to the whole class—and your words will remain “alive” for the entirety of the course. Always have your postings reflect a professional and dedicated instructor, be certain any facts and course information are in sync with what is included in the course (including textbook and other class resources), and use your postings to reinforce important course lessons and to motivate students.

Be a model of what you require of students in their postings. You no doubt require that the majority of student postings be substantive in nature, and thus so should yours. Never berate a student/the class or write in a negative tone. If additional information of a more specific nature is needed in response to a student posting, offer a general response in the discussion and send a private email or posting to the student. Always be upbeat. Students look to you for guidance, and the discussion is where you are most visible; it is there that you can have the greatest impact on the students.

Don’t be afraid to let personality and humor enter your responses. Because we are using written words, not spoken ones, the facial expressions, tone, and gestures that make our spoken words take on defined meanings are missing in the online classroom. Certainly, punctuation serves this function to some extent—but injecting large doses of an upbeat personality and some occasional humor helps engage the class, creates a stronger student-instructor rapport, and helps students stay more involved in the discussion.

While your response will be to one student, always include the whole class. As most people in the class, if not everyone, will be reading your response to a student posting, be sure you include the entire class. This might be done in several ways, but here are two: “Cathy—and everyone in the class—the example mentioned of …” or “Class, what Cathy pointed out in this posting reminds us…” Each of these gives recognition to the student’s posting—crucial in letting the students know that you read each post, and to establishing a stronger individual student-instructor rapport. This also lets the class know that your response to the student is not limited to the student but is information for all.

When applicable, use examples or experiences from your life in responding. Students enjoy peeking into the lives of their instructors. Offering bits and pieces of your life outside of class will certainly make you more approachable—but be sure you use your life experiences and situations for the benefit of underscoring, highlighting, and reinforcing lessons of the course.

Use your responses as opportunities to further involvement in class discussion. Some of your responses may simply be statements, and that’s fine—but remember that statements by an instructor in a discussion have a 50-50 shot of getting students to respond to them; you are hoping that the subject and tone of your post will encourage students to respond—which makes for the ideal discussion. However, if you end your responses with a question to the class, this almost ensures student responses to your posting: many students will want to show their involvement (partially to receive a good discussion grade!), and it is human nature to respond to a question.

Create a bank of the best responses that you post for reuse in future classes. As you respond to student discussion postings you will find that some of your substantive responses are really good—so good you’d like to use them for another class! There is nothing wrong with this—create an online folder labeled “Responses for Student Discussions, Class XXX, Week YYY,” deposit your selected responses there, and then use them when appropriate for future classes.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 15 years and has a national reputation in the subject, both writing and conducting workshops on it. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his next book—How to Become the Perfect Online Instructor.

Excerpted from “Teaching Online With Errol: Creating Effective Responses to Student Discussion Postings.” Online Classroom, April 2010: 6, 7.

Here’s how …

The best activities are “reality-based” activities. The more a student can relate to a learning activity, the easier it is for that student to get involved in it—and employ the purpose of the activity beyond the course. In creating activities for your online course—whether from scratch or by tweaking other activities to fit your class—be sure they reach into the real world. And that real world can include pieces of history or other events, people’s stories, or really just about any other item that is interesting, unusual, or humorous enough to hold students’ attention, no matter what the subject.

Be certain the activities are up to date. Using outdated activities will likely lead to low student interest (and leave an impression that the instructor is out of touch and/or just doing the “same old, same old”). If a dated activity is still fresh because it is interesting or its “datedness” is precisely why it is being used, fine; but if neither of these is the case, change the wording so it reflects a more current time frame (and certainly one that is relevant to your students).

Be on the lookout for existing or potential activities that can be morphed to fit your class. From textbooks that include activities to cartoons to daily events to newspaper and magazine articles to conferences and conversations to Listservs and blogs to TV shows and movies to everyday life experiences—each of these (and others) presents you with a gold mine from which to unearth new and exciting activities for your course.

Develop any new activities with students in mind, never you. Whether you are form-fitting an existing activity to your class or creating one from scratch, it must be designed to fit all aspects of your students (and your class)—not just you and your creative bent. Too many activities have failed in their efforts to keep students engaged; to successfully highlight or spotlight an idea, formula, theory, fact, or philosophy; or to lead students to new discoveries and insights simply because the instructor failed to keep students in mind.

Keep all activities short and easy to understand. Activities are, by their very nature, not meant to be treatises, dissertations, essays, or theses; they must be short to hold students’ attention and to fit as a component of a larger lesson, and they must use vocabulary and concepts students can readily understand on first reading.

Don’t hesitate to use humor in the activities. Activities that evoke a smile, chortle, chuckle, or guffaw are effective as they have a friendly flavor, thus making them easier and more enjoyable to tackle. But observe three notes of caution. (1) Use these sparingly, not as the norm, for you want a balance in the style of your activities (too much humor can take away from the serious nature of the course). (2) Be sure it is humorous. Too many people try their hand at humor and are miserable at it; it’s much better to try out humor on colleagues first than to have it fall flat on your students. (3) Always keep the humor in good taste!

Make certain all activities fall under your school’s umbrella of acceptability. Schools may have certain policies regarding the use of activities, the number of activities, your activities vs. school-sanctioned activities, etc. Be aware of any of these before you begin creating activities for your course; you don’t want to invest time and effort in activities only to learn you can’t use them.

Make use of the newest online technology. Beyond good ol’ text, there are blogs, podcasts, videos, animation, .mps (audio) files, interactive links, and other options—explore these and see which ones might be a nice bonus to an activity in engaging your students, in presenting your activity’s purpose, and in spicing up your class. We online instructors must embrace new technology and use it to enhance our teaching efforts—and this includes the activities we present to our students.

Be sure to give credit when applicable. If you decide to use something verbatim or nearly so from another source, it is important to give credit to the author. In some cases you must get permission from the publisher.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 14 years and has a national reputation in the subject. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his next book—How to Become the Perfect Online Instructor.

Excerpted from Teaching Online with Errol: How to Create Effective Activities for Online Teaching, Online Classroom, July 2009.

Here are some suggestions to help you better prepare your students and give them a greater understanding of all online assignments—especially for those killer weeks:

Lay the groundwork for the weeks ahead. You know that some weeks will be easier than others for your students, and it’s best to point this out up front. Be encouraging and positive, stress the importance of time management and organization in an online course, and tell the students that your input on all assignments will help them improve from week to week.

Let students know that you are sincerely interested in helping them. It’s up to you to link the course and the students back to you. If the students sense that you really don’t care much about their efforts, you will quickly lose them. By being a constant presence, by responding to student postings and grading assignments in a timely and substantive manner, by injecting some humor into the course, and by giving a little extra help to struggling students, you will keep them involved during the easy weeks and keenly focused in the more difficult weeks.

Stress that an “easy” week is as important as any other week in class. When a course week comes by that seems to have few assignments and/or seemingly easy assignments, students can quickly blow these off by not doing the work or not embracing the value of the assignments. To keep these reactions to a minimum, stress the value of each assignment, even in the slower weeks, including their lessons and use in the students’ everyday world beyond the course.

Put special effort into assisting students you believe might do poorly during intense weeks. You will have students who will do well no matter how difficult an assignment week is; they will appreciate and benefit from all general class postings of encouragement. But there also will be weaker students—students already are struggling with the assignments—who will need extra motivation and attention from you. Emails, chats, MP3 files, and/or calls to them before and throughout an especially daunting week of assignments can often give them the additional information, increased motivation, and needed encouragement they need so they don’t give up.

Remind students of already available course resources. Your school will have a host of online resources always at the ready for your students. These usually include a virtual library, extensive websites and articles related to the course subject, information on plagiarism, a tutoring and/or writing center, and technical assistance. Remind your students—throughout the course—of the importance of these resources, but also relate their use to specific assignments in the course, for all weeks.

Develop an additional library of resources to assist students through all weeks of the course. School-ready resources are developed or made available to help students with studying in general and for specific course subjects. But you can take these resources one step further by adding websites, articles, examples, and suggestions that assist students in tackling and understanding both the course subject and course assignments. It is especially helpful when you post these types of resources for specific assignments.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 15 years and has a national reputation in the subject, about which he has written and conducted workshops. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his next book—How to Become the Perfect Online Instructor.

Excerpted from “Preparing Online Students for Course Weeks Ahead—Both Easy and ‘Killer.’” Online Classroom, Nov. 2009, 6-7.

When students are asked to help out, either directly or indirectly, a course can become more efficient and will run more smoothly, and the students can become more engaged with fewer concerns. Following are some suggestions on how to make the best use of your students as “assistants.”

Check out any suggestions and information found in discussion or chat forums. In the discussion and chat features of online courses, students offer information, insights, criticism, and suggestions on specific instructor questions related to the course—as well as on other student postings, the course overall, and even the instructor himself/herself. Read these thoroughly; there is much to be learned about problems in the present course, concerns students have with the subject matter, and confusion about instructor directions or comments.

Get a better sense of student learning needs from their lives. One of the biggest complaints students have about online courses is that they are too generic and theoretical, with little or no thought given to a course’s application in students’ real lives, in terms of “This is what I’m doing now” or “This is what I will be doing.” Yet when course information does touch the students in a meaningful, truly useful manner, it keeps students more engaged in the assignments and creates a better rapport throughout the course.

Two ways to ensure this are by reading the student biographical information that typically is posted at the beginning of a course and by posting a relevant question to the class, such as “How will the information in this course prove helpful in your everyday lives?” Use the information you learn about the students to insert activities, post resources, and offer discussion or chat questions that make the course more pertinent to them.

Post questions that will benefit the students and you—and your future courses. Ask class and individual questions of students relating to their experience in the course, their professional interests, and their course concerns. Don’t hesitate to ask students about other areas of the subject matter they would like to explore, what they think could make the course a more positive experience, and their overall reaction to your teaching of the course. By seeking this information, you can learn much to refine the course while it is being taught, to direct the course more toward student needs, and to improve upon future courses you teach.

When necessary, employ a buddy system to help weaker students. You will come across a student or two whose computer skills or basics in the subject you’re teaching may be very weak; the attention you must give all your students makes giving intense individual assistance to these students difficult if not impossible. To help, set up a buddy system: ask for student volunteers who will be available to answer another student’s questions during the course. You will find there are always students willing to volunteer; the end result is a class that is stronger and thus more engaged and vibrant. (Note that you should never promise extra credit or the like—it is not fair to the members of the class who may not have those strengths to offer.)

Be aware of problem areas that students encounter in navigating the course site. No course management system or course structure is perfect. Keep a master checklist of all items to look over before a course begins, and add those legitimate ones that students point out. This will only ensure that your next courses go smoother yet.

Let students remind you of your responsibility and role as an online instructor. Each student comes to you for guidance, information, insights, and suggestions on a subject so that he or she can become more adept with that subject. It makes no difference whether this is a core subject for a student’s major, a refresher course for a profession or certification, or an elective: the students themselves serve as a constant reminder that you are in the role of instructor because of your subject knowledge, your ability to teach, your adeptness at instructing online, your high ethical and moral standards, and your commitment to your school’s rules and policies. Never forget any of these elements; when you do, the students lose, the school falters, and you disappoint—all results that you never want in your teaching portfolio.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 14 years and has a national reputation in the subject. He has written and conducted workshops on it and is currently putting the finishing touches on his next book: How to Become the Perfect Online Instructor.

Excerpted from Teaching Online with Errol: The Online Instructor’s Hidden Assistant: The Online Student, Online Classroom, June 2009, 6-7.

There also are some “not-so-major items” that are important but don’t seem quite as crucial. However, when one of these is overlooked, it can become the ugliest wart on your class, resulting in negative student attitudes and a diminishing of your stature as instructor.

The following list contains a few of these “small things” that often are overlooked in online courses.

Look over your course before it begins. Because a course is usually preset by the school, many online faculty assume that everything is ready to go. But often this is not the case. Be sure to check for broken links, duplication of or missing assignments, and typos. Confirm that all course material is visible to the students and that grading/points have been assigned to each project, homework, and test; and that final exam dates (if applicable) and all related information are posted.

Check your spelling and grammar. Students will not appreciate emails, announcements, and other postings with spelling errors, typos, or punctuation/grammar errors. Sure, it takes a bit more time to check for these—but it’s your reputation and the school’s reputation at stake. While no one is perfect, students expect their instructors to be—and all it takes is one typo from you for a student to feel that you are not prepared to teach.

Be sure that page numbers in assignments match the text(s). Sometimes the assigned pages do not match the pages in the text(s) students have. This happens most often when an instructor is teaching a course again and again and forgets to check for a new edition of the text(s) being used, page numbers are entered incorrectly, or the text(s) you assigned does/do not match the one(s) ordered by the bookstore. Be sure all assigned readings are in sync with the text(s) used—your course will proceed much more smoothly if they are.

Make a checklist of all school policies applicable to your course. It is so easy to overlook or forget one or two school policies or procedures, especially if you are new to the school. Make a checklist so you won’t overlook any. If you are unsure of a policy, ask a supervisor.

Always be positive in your feedback and postings. You will be teaching many students, so you will be typing many thousands of words during one course; this can make it easy to overlook your tone or word choice now and then. Don’t let it happen. A negative tone, use of all caps, and no positives in assignment feedback, emails, or other postings can be devastating to a student. So check all before you send, and always end each missive with an upbeat, optimistic tone.

Be substantive in your announcements, feedback, postings, etc. Students can’t see you (except in rare webinars) or shake hands with you; all they have are your words, so it is crucial that they are, for the most part, many. The “Great paragraph, Tom!” or “Good point, Cathy!” postings are fine, but they should never be representative of your writings to students. Be substantive (and do so often, not occasionally) in these so they know that you are invested in the class, care about the class, and are interested in the class.

Keep track of the errors and oversights you discover for future courses. We all make mistakes in each course we teach. But as long as we use these errors as lessons to improve ourselves, they are not for naught. Make a list of these errors and keep them handy so that when you next teach a course the same problems will not occur. Your class will run more smoothly, the students will have a more positive learning experience, and you’ll feel more relaxed.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 14 years and has a national reputation in the subject, both writing and conducting workshops on it.

Excerpted from Teaching Online With Errol: In Teaching Online Never Overlook the Small Things, March 2009, Online Classroom.

Titles are nothing but dry words in an online course. There will be those students who believe that one called a “professor” has more knowledge, more panache than, say, “instructor,” but as the course comes to life—and so does your teaching—what title you own quickly fades in importance.

Your school administration determines the title you will use. Each school decides on what its faculty’s titles will be. There could be one title for all—for example, “adjunct professor”—or titles based on degrees earned, such as “professor” for those with PhDs/EdDs and “instructor” for those with no higher than a master’s degree.

Never make a big deal out of what students prefer to call you. No matter what your title, students will often settle into their comfort zone regarding titles. For example, some schools and/or online instructors prefer using a first name, while many students have never experienced this, being used to a more formal “Mr.,” “Ms.,” “Professor,” or “Doctor.” That’s fine—don’t push your de rigueur title on them. It’s your attitude and your teaching ability they will ultimately react to, not your title.

Offer your accomplishments only when necessary. What goes into your bio should, for the most part, stay there. You should not push your accomplishments on your students simply to brag; this quickly will turn students off. Use your background only in class and only as part of a legitimate example to illustrate a point—and then sparingly.

Keep your title and accomplishments in perspective. Because there is no physical interaction online, students react more swiftly and acutely to what an instructor posts—especially because everything the instructor “says” is in print form and thus can be reread. An instructor who is prone to boast about his or her title and/or accomplishments does little to establish a strong student/instructor rapport.

Never fear: students can quickly learn about you. B.I.—Before the Internet—students could learn about their instructors only from what their instructors chose to share with them and anything about the instructor that appeared in print. But with the Internet, students have quick access to nearly everything they need to know about an instructor—often including how other students rate the instructor. And make no mistake: students will Google their instructors to learn more about them. So rather than showcasing what and who you are, be content with teaching—the students will quickly discover much about you on their own.

Know your student demographic. Depending on the school, your student demographic can range from newly minted high school grads to graduate students to military folks to students returning to college after a long absence … and many more. And each of these groups will react differently to your title and accomplishments. For example, military students are used to addressing others as “Sir” or “Ma’am” while students fresh from high school tend to be more open to casual, less formal titles. It’s important to understand this so you can interact effectively with your students.

Ask what your students prefer to be called. Students are nearly always listed in your class by their formal, full names—those that they enrolled with. Yet in establishing a rapport online—where you can interact with students at any hour on any day of the week—it is important that you refer to students by their preference. They see your use of their names again and again; ignoring their name preference can hurt your ability to establish rapport with your students.

There is only one way to earn your students’ respect: by doing. In the end, all the titles and all the accomplishments amount to mere words—words that initially are sure to impress and buy a few days of respect … but that’s all. It is your action as an instructor—what you do and how you do it, both with the materials being taught and your interaction with students—that earns you respect.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 12 years and has a national reputation in the subject, both writing and conducting workshops on it. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his next book—The Student’s Complete Guide to Online Learning.

Excerpted from Teaching Online With Errol: Titles & Accomplishments Do Not Respect Make, Online Classroom, December 2008.

Personal introductions. By using the personal introductions of students, an instructor can get to know his/her students better, thus allowing interaction with individual students in a more personal manner. When students see that the instructor is reaching out to them on a personal basis, it helps establish a rapport and put the student at ease.

Constant presence in the classroom. When students see that the instructor is very active and visible in the class—in discussion, in class postings, etc.—it reassures them that instructor is real, is interested in the class, and is there for individual students. This will have a big impact on student success because they know the instructor is around for questions and concerns AND it gives them a more positive feeling about being in the class.

Timely response to all student postings and assignments. First, responding in a timely manner will keep students from having hold assignments until they get clarification from the instructor. It is also crucial that the instructor give thorough and immediate feedback on all assignments so students can learn how to improve and can go on to the next assignment in a timely manner.

Be clear in all “housekeeping” aspects. Grading criteria, all contact information, policy on late submissions, “netiquette,” and other such items need be clearly defined so there is a minimum of confusion later on in the class. As I have taught more classes over the years, I have compiled an extended list of these based on student queries; posting these early in the class cuts down on student confusion and student emails asking about these items—a big time-saver for both student the instructor.

Give assignment feedback that is positive and that helps the student improve. Students must have feedback on assignments that lets them know how they are doing in the class (i.e., their grade), what they need do to improve, and what they are doing right. I give individual item feedback that is made up of three parts: what is wrong, why it is wrong, and how it can be made right; I also will give positive feedback for individual points that are outstanding; and I always include an overall positive comment at the end of the assignment.

Share tips, ideas, information, and personal perspectives to make the students feel more comfortable. All of these have one goal: to give additional understanding of the subject being discussed, written about, etc. Personal perspectives are especially helpful, including those of the students: it puts the subject matter in a “real life” context, it gets more students actively and enthusiastically involved in class, and creates a stronger rapport between the students and the online instructor.

Above all, be enthusiastic, friendly, and motivated. While the previous items are crucial, they really will amount to little if each is not infused with megadoses of sincere enthusiasm, friendliness, and motivation from the facilitator.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 15 years and has a national reputation in the subject, both writing and conducting workshops on it. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his next book—How to Become the Perfect Online Instructor.

Excerpted from Teaching Online With Errol: Ensuring Student Success for a Positive Online Learning Experience, Online Classroom, July 2008.

Here’s how to keep your classes on track during the holidays.

Stay within your established schedule. Students need order in any classroom; the syllabus, your class schedule, and the course website offer a stability that students can count on. Through these the students know where to go for course information, where to turn in assignments, and with whom they can interact. If any of this is out of whack it can be upsetting to the online student, especially during the holidays when extra outside influences are all around. So maintain your regular schedule and same course requirements.

Post a motivational email and announcement. Be sure to indicate to students the importance of giving these holiday weeks their “all” and remind them of the overall impact on their final grade from each week’s work. Also, ask for any heads-up on absences or delays due to holiday travel or guest visits: the more you know ahead of time, the smoother you can run your class(es).

Give students course-related “gifts.” There is a host of either subject-related or just-plain-fun websites you can send to your students as holiday gifts; you can also find cartoons, jokes, puzzles, and light articles— all related to the subject taught. It’s a nice way to strengthen the rapport between you and your students, show you are part of the holiday spirit, and give something that merely offers a chuckle or some additional information on the subject taught.

Invite students to exchange “gifts.” This can be much fun, help students develop new friendships, and offer another item that keeps students involved in and enjoying your course. Whether through assigned pairings or simply having each student give a “gift” to the rest of the class, letting students exchange or send helpful/just-kinda-cool websites, articles, and information can add a nice holiday touch to your class.

Call your students. Many schools allow—and some encourage—faculty to call their students, and what better time to “just call to say hello” than during the holiday season. This not only shows you as a warm, caring person but also allows for an additional and personal interaction with your student.

Send the class electronic holiday cards. This is simply you saying, “I know it’s the holiday time, class, and I just wanted to wish you a very nice one.” Again, this strengthens that all-important student-faculty rapport, adds a dash of lightness to your course, and makes your class just a bit nicer to attend.

Keep your tone serious yet within the holiday spirit. There should not be a dramatic shift in your tone—in emails, announcements, chat, discussion, etc.—during the holiday season, as you want the students to continue all aspects of your course in a serious manner. Yet it is the holiday season, so striking a nice balance between the usual “sound” of your writing and some holiday spirit is both appropriate and important (to help keep students engaged) during November and December.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 12 years and has a national reputation in the subject, both writing and conducting workshops on it.

Excerpted from Teaching Online With Errol: Keeping Your Classes on Track During the Holidays!, Online Classroom, Nov. 2008.

Be a constant presence for suggestions and insights. Look at your role as that of the coordinator of a cooperative: give initial directions and guidance, but also constantly pop in to give kudos for good student postings, suggestions to help their learning, and applause for discussion or team postings that developed into long threads from one initial student’s thoughts. Be sure to point out the importance of supporting and thanking fellow classmates for ideas. All of this will go a long way in keeping students engaged and helping them to learn more.

Post mini-lectures that translate into ultra important. If I were to see lecture after lecture posted by a professor, I’d sooner take out my eyes with a hot poker than read them. Lectures like this become so much blah-blah-blah, and students soon find it difficult to absorb all the information. But by posting mini-lectures (one to three paragraphs centered on one subject), the students will recognize these as important because of their infrequency, be more eager to read them, and will certainly absorb—and remember—their contents easier. (Hint: you might want to mention these in your welcoming email.)

Offer an engaging variety of assigned and supplemental readings. Choose your assigned readings—and how much to read—wisely. And also always offer a variety of supplemental readings that are engaging, interesting, and perhaps fun—the students won’t have to read them, but you can make them want to.

Offer reality-based education approaches to material covered in class. By stressing connections between what students learn from the assigned material and its use in the real world, you are telling students they must rely on their critical thinking, interacting with others in class, and further research to “fill in the blanks” of what they have not been implicitly taught. Hold them responsible for getting this information—but don’t punish them if they get it wrong: you want them to have “A-ha!” moments of learning, not “What’s the use of trying?” thoughts.

Get students actively involved in the course. By having students offer suggestions—readings, websites, poetry, theories, organizations, etc.—to enhance various portions of the course they become more invested in this cooperative of a class you are coordinating and guiding. The bonuses are that students will be learning in deeper layers of what the course initially offered, they have another internal motivator to stay engaged in the course, and you pick up additional items for inclusion the next time you teach the course.

Know that students have a variety of learning styles. student-centered instruction is not a panacea; some students will, in fact, simply work better with a faculty-centered instruction approach. But the times they are, indeed, changing, and by placing more of the learning process on the students you offer students more options to explore and expand their own learning capabilities.

Excerpted from Teaching Online With Errol: Online Teaching: Perfect for Student-Centered Learning! Online Classroom, Dec. 2007.

It is a delicate creation, this first post, but once you know how, it can be pivotal in getting your class off in the right direction. A few tips:

1. Consider your audience. While you are writing the post, you need an idea of the audience make-up so that the first post’s tone, approach, and information meet, in general, their overall experience. Is it a freshman group that probably has many members who are new to an online course, or an upper-level body that no doubt has “veteran onliners”? Is this a required course or an elective? Is this their first course in the subject area or have they probably taken others? The more you know about your class, the more specific can you make this first post.

2. Your first few lines should be inviting, warm, caring. Here’s where you can erase the divide of only a computer between you and the class by letting the students immediately feel you are glad they are taking your course, and you are sincerely interested in their learning and improvement.

3. Be sure to include the “uglies.” These include both the “musts” and your expectations of the course, and are crucial to post at the beginning of the course so the students cannot say they weren’t informed of this or that. Additionally, the students need to know they must take the course seriously, there are major repercussions if they don’t, and just because the course does not meet in a brick-and-mortar classroom doesn’t mean they can simply come and go when they choose, as they choose. This is your “I’m the boss” section of the post.

4. Welcome and encourage your students’ suggestions and involvement. The more ownership students have in your course, the easier it is to teach because the students will want to be involved. One way to help this along is by letting students know—in your first post—that their suggestions (for course material, to improve the course, etc.) are always welcome and that as much as they look forward to learning from you, you also look forward to learning from them.

5. Address why the course is important beyond a grade or degree requirement. It makes no difference what your subject is: by explaining to students the subject’s importance to them beyond the “I must take this course” mindset, you are, yet again, offering a reason for their ownership of the course and thus bringing about more involvement on the students’ part.

6. Offer tips on how to do well in the course. These tips can come from your past experience in teaching the course; items you look for in assignment submissions; insight on what their overall contributions in discussions, teamwork, chat, and other such areas should be; what they shouldn’t do.

7. Choose your words carefully. Don’t be haphazard in your first post’s word choice, for your words can humanize or demonize you, make you appear inviting or intimidating, lessen or heighten student apprehension toward an online course, engage or push students away.

8. Let students know you are available and that you want them to succeed in the course. While this should be mentioned at the beginning of your post, it should also be restated at least two more times, including at the end. Again, this shows your sincere involvement in the course and concern for your students.

9. Make use of color, bolding, italics, etc. When available, the use of color, bolding, italics, etc. can highlight what you deem especially important, give a sense of personality and warmth to your words, and break up the print so it’s easier to digest. Also, don’t hesitate to use subheads, a word or two in caps to introduce a section, and sentence fragments to emphasize.

10. Always end on a positive, upbeat note. This is the very last part of your first post that students will read, so restate the positives in your opening few lines; use an exclamation point here and there to show excitement; and let them know you are really looking forward to the course, their involvement, and—very important—the students’ overall improvement.

11. Before you post, read it one more time. Remember, while computers and automobiles can be recalled to correct mistakes, a first post can’t—so be sure it says what you want it to say and create it to last the lifetime of a course.

Errol Craig Sull has been teaching online courses for more than 12 years and has a national reputation in the subject, both writing and conducting workshops on it.

Excerpted from Teaching Online With Errol: Your First Posting to Students: So Important! Online Classroom, March 2007.

For the class and its students can’t be left alone for too long; it and they need you, and thus your summer journeys hither and yon must include that portal of connection to both.

Here are a few tips to keep your hassles to a minimum while you enjoy a well-deserved break:

• Bring a laptop first aid kit. On the road you may not have access to a convenient computer store, so it’s best to bring both your “this I need” and “this I might need” items with you, including a can of air, screen wipes, Ethernet and flashdrive cords, a small flashlight, contact information in case of a computer problem, and an extra flashdrive.
• Travel with a cigarette lighter plug-in. Several airlines now provide outlets on board so laptops need not run down their batteries. These are the same size and shape as the old cigarette plug-in lighters, so you’ll need to bring an adapter to use them—but they will help save your laptop’s battery life (for when you really do need it) and give you a tad brighter screen.
• Bring along copies of important PC files. Do a thorough check of files on your PC to determine which ones you might need on the road; copy them onto a flashdrive.
• Be aware of hotel’s Internet access policies. Most middle-to-upper-scale hotels have Internet access in the rooms, but some have it available only in their lobbies or other public spots.
• Remember that laptops do not like liquid, sand, humidity, or heat. While laptops can go anywhere, don’t get careless and forget about their aversion to liquid, sand, high humidity, and heat. Be careful of drinks being passed over your laptop and sitting too close to a pool with your laptop; also, don’t bring it to the beach: with sand, water, high humidity (possibly), and heat in ample supply, your laptop is a disaster waiting to happen.
• Be up front with any late student correspondence resulting from your travels. Nearly all online schools require that faculty respond to student correspondence—of any kind—within 72 hours max. If you expect to have difficulty in meeting this deadline because of an out-of-town trip, let your students know so they can plan accordingly—and will not think you’ve lost interest.
• Protect your laptop from thieves. When not using your computer, keep it locked in its case (this prevents someone from taking your accessories and/or laptop). Label both your laptop and case in the event it is stolen or misplaced.
• Universal adapter and surge protector. If traveling abroad, it’s imperative that you have a universal adapter so you can use your power cord with another country’s electrical system (nearly always different from ours). Also, bring along a surge protector to shield you from any “hiccups” in another country’s electrical system.

Excerpted from On the Road Again: Keep Your Computer Happy! Online Classroom, July 2007. For the complete article, download the free report:11 Strategies for Managing Your Online Courses.

Perhaps you’ve heard someone make this objection to online learning? Or even uttered it yourself?

My answer to this is very simple: hogwash.

What do I mean? Beyond the giving and taking of stats, facts, ideas, etc., injecting ourselves into the teaching experience AND getting our students actively involved (beyond merely responding to what we ask or require) can quickly translate into one really dynamic and exciting “learning event”!

Here are a few tips for engaging online students:

Be organized. The “absent-minded professor” is not, unfortunately, an urban legend! Look at any list of student complaints about their instructors—online or otherwise—and being disorganized always shows up.

Start your course or program with a welcoming e-mail. This helps set the tone for the entire semester or session and lets the students know you are more than merely R2D2; you are instead a human who looks forward to working with the class, who welcomes their feedback and questions, and who is very excited about the upcoming course.

Keep all due dates and promises: Students who take courses online rely exclusively on what they read online in terms of due dates for readings, assignments, quizzes, etc., as well as any promises you make (e.g., “I will have the draft of your first paper returned by X date”) and virtual office hours. It is EXTREMELY important that you adhere to the dates and promises given. Students respect for you as their teacher will plummet if they find you can’t be relied on.

Follow up on all e-mail received—and promptly. E-mail is the students’ lifeline that allows for specific questions to be answered, confusions to be cleared up, and uncertainties to be quantified. Respond to all e-mail—if only an acknowledgement that you received it—and in a timely manner.

Use chat rooms, threaded discussions, journals, etc. These allow for spontaneity, for student involvement, for personal commentary by students—all items that make for more ownership of the course on their part. And by meeting with students in chat rooms and responding to journal entries, they not only get to see a more personal (read: real) side to you but also can readily see you are sincerely interested in each one of them—so important in establishing a strong teacher–student rapport.

Send general e-mails throughout the course—and post them. I call this my “glue.” I have included compliments on an overall class, “well done!” on a certain paper, wishes for a happy holiday or semester break, an offering of some additional clarification on an item I find many students are having difficulty with, a change in an initial due date, clarification on an assignment, or an attachment of an additional reading.

Be a motivator. Give students—both as a class and individually—compliments on their work, insights, extra efforts, an outstanding project or paper, etc. They are so used to being told what they got wrong or didn’t complete that positives are a nice change—and extremely important in motivating them to do better.

Do not use stuffy, formal language. I’m not suggesting you use “corner lingo” or the like, but a nice mix of conversational language with a formal way of writing will equal the students feeling as if they are reading something written by a real person—not someone who thinks that he/she is better and above the students.

Do occasional “just-for-fun” things. In my occasional, general e-mails I might end with a puzzle, a joke, a (what I call) “cool website,” an interesting item that happened on the date of the e-mail I’m sending. And I’ve also invited students to send me their “cool websites,” which I then will organize and send out to all in a master list—a really nice way (for both the students and me!) to have a bit of fun with the class while getting more involved.

REMEMBER: The effective online instructor will wear a combination of a fuzzy down comforter; a black leather jacket; and formal wear—these translate into the perfect teaching personality “attire.”

Excerpted from Teaching Online With Errol: Establishing a Solid Rapport with Online Students, Online Classroom, Jan. 2006.

By the end of a year, online teachers have spent many hours parked in front of a screen typing in bits and bytes to both inform and motivate a myriad of students. Typing chairs may have become a bit worn, desks a tad cluttered, offices somewhat askew, and our motivation—well, by the end of the year that once perky and full-of-sunshine motivation to greet and teach our charges may have waned and become drained.

Take a few minutes to consider the following online teaching tips to help you start out the new year revitalized, enthusiastic, eager, and just happy as hell to be teaching online:

Get yourself REALLY organized. When you consider all the parts of our teaching life—intimate knowledge of the online teaching platform(s) we use, student assignments to read and grade, admin emails and notices and memos to scan, individual student personalities and needs to cope with, professional development we must or want to do, etc.—not being organized can be extremely hazardous to doing a good job. Add to this the daily hemi-demi-semiquavers of our lives, and it becomes crucial to stay organized. Whether you use planners, software, file cabinets or cubbyholes, find a way that works for you.

Create a supportive teaching environment. Do you have an environment that fully supports your online teaching? From what’s on your desk to the seating height and comfort of your chair to computer configurations to accessibility of frequently used resources—the more these work with you, the better you will feel, no matter what time of day and how long a stretch you teach.

Understand all deadlines and responsibilities. Each school and each course has varied deadlines and responsibilities; multiply these by more than one course, perhaps more than one school, and you quickly can be overwhelmed. Make a master list of the “must-do” deadlines and responsibilities, then check it daily—you never want to lose control of what must be done and when.

Read all course evaluations from the past year. Yes, you’ll be reminded of what needs to be improved, but it’s also important to once again see the positives that students and/or supervisors have listed for you. A new year often focuses so much on correcting what was wrong that we forget about building upon or continuing what was right. Checking over your evaluations for your teaching strengths can remind you of an effective activity you did several months ago or positive teaching approach: all are good to keep your confidence high, remind you of what works, and stimulate new ideas.

Get “peripherals” ready for your students. Gather websites, articles, essays, photos, videos, etc. that support the subject(s) you are teaching. While they’re not required, these all help a course “come alive” so that it’s more exciting for you and your students.

Add one new activity or teaching approach this year. You may be satisfied with what is going right, but it can become boring to you and possibly your students, if you put it on cruise control. So add a new wrinkle or two to your teaching this year with an added activity, strategy, approach, etc.

Errol Craig Sull is a columnist for Online Classroom newsletter and has been teaching online courses for more than 12 years.

Adapted from Teaching Online With Errol: Make It a Productive New Teaching Year! Online Classroom, Jan. 2007.

Online teachers are both the students’ MapQuest and umbilical cord to their courses; without us they can still learn, to be sure, but the guidance, motivation, and insight needed to master the skills of their courses would be missing. Thus, our feedback—in so many forms—is crucial.

To enhance your student feedback effectiveness, I offer the following suggestions:

• Check email at least three times daily. Students may be in different time zones; their professions may dictate varied posting times; they may have sudden problems—whatever the reason, checking your course email regularly will keep you on top things.
• Set reminders of when and what to check. This becomes especially important if you are teaching more than one course, and/or for more than one school.
• Keep generic postings to a minimum. The generic posting is easy but offers nothing specific to the course and does not connect you to the students. The majority of your class postings should be specific to both the course and the students.
• Answer every email sent to you. You do not need to answer each student email as soon as you see it, but make it a general rule to answer all student emails within 24 hours—and let your students know this.
• Make your presence regularly known in discussions, chats, etc. Yes, these are for your students, but they need to know that you are monitoring them and that you are active in all aspects of the course.
• Offer detailed and constructive comments in assignments. Never simply offer feedback such as, “This is wrong!” —it does the student no good. Your comments on assignments should be detailed and constructive. When a student does something good, let him or her know!
• Occasionally, use humor. Let the students know that you have a personality—put a bit of smile into your comments and postings sometimes, even using news or items to highlight certain parts of the course. This not only makes the course more enjoyable but allows you to reinforce certain parts of the course in a lighter manner.
• Note student-specific information for a more personalized approach. Jot down information you learn about your students, either through their bios or information revealed in emails. This allows you to respond more specifically to their needs—and shows your genuine interest in the student, which is a major component in keeping students actively involved in a course.
• Follow through on promises. It’s easy to toss a promises, but you damn well better follow through on it. Not doing so immediately ruins your credibility, and credibility is important for any teacher, especially for the online instructor.

God uses fire and brimstone to get His message across—the online teacher’s available tools for giving student feedback are not quite as dramatic but can be just as effective.

Excerpted from Teaching Online With Errol: Overcoming the #1 Complaint of Online Students: Poor Instructor Feedback! Online Classroom, June 2007.

As Dylan once remarked, how “the times they are a-changin’.”

Certainly, there was a time when many online colleges popped up that were unscrupulous, that offered little in the way of academic excellence, and that were interested in one thing: how much money could they take in from how many students. I recently had a conversation with Dr. David L. Elliott, associate dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Excelsior College, an online college based in Albany, N.Y., about the changes in online education. His observations both validate what we who read Online Classroom already know and offer additional optimism for the future of online education: not only is it here to stay, but it is expanding with a quality that just keeps getting better.

Here are some excerpts from that interview:

ECS: For many years, getting an online degree was viewed by many as a joke, as something that should not be taken seriously. How has this changed and what has been done to improve the image of an online education and degree?

DE: While it is true that, about fifteen years ago, most academicians dismissed it, and some saw opportunities and others saw it as a threat to jobs and education, this has markedly changed. With the rapid spread of the Internet across the world and the asynchronous technologies, online education is now available to a far larger potential student population than even the most enthusiastic supporters had envisioned. And the technological innovations have supported both online education and traditional classroom education, thus proving wrong the nay-sayers who saw it threatening education, per se.

As to the image problem, I think that the online programs, and the media, have actually done a good job of creating a positive image. The for-profits—such as University of Phoenix and Capella—have inundated the media (print and Internet) with advertisements, while major and prestigious universities, such as MIT or NYU, have attracted media attention from a news perspective.

ECS: There is no question that online education is the educational “wave of the future”; journal and professional education org studies underscore this again and again. What do you feel online colleges need do to secure their growth, not merely in quantitative terms (number of students) but qualitative as well?

DE: They must employ dedicated and qualified instructors. The key to quality education, online or classroom, is the interaction between faculty and students. Having qualified educators with a commitment to their students and the subject, regardless of the modality of instruction, remains the single most important factor in quality education.

ECS: When one thinks of the “typical” university or college that has students sitting in classrooms, on a campus, one usually thinks of students who have continued their education right out of high school, students going on for advanced degrees, and the so-called nontraditional student returning to school after a long absence as the primary student body demographic. Does the online college compete for these same student populations or are there student niches that are perhaps better served by online colleges?

DE: Students whose physical location, work and family responsibilities, or other personal circumstances make it difficult or impossible to attend classroom courses may have few realistic options to “online” or computer-mediated education. They may very well be best served by an online college. Moreover, the cost of education continues to increase, and the expectations of work-life are more pervasive, requiring of employees greater time flexibility. I think that we are seeing larger numbers of students closer to the traditional college age seeking online education in an attempt to balance the cost of education and the need for an income.

In addition, when classroom courses are not available when a student needs them, students are increasingly turning to online colleges to fill in courses or even complete their degrees. In this sense, I see a convergence of the use of both online and classroom education for many students. Right now, I do not think that the competition is between classroom and online institutions but rather more competition among traditional classroom-based institutions and competition among online institutions. However, there is a secular trend toward more online education, and some traditional colleges may see online colleges as their competition. Most online colleges do not try to recruit traditional students right out of high school.

ECS: Students are, of course, taught by faculty, whether in a traditional college setting or an online college. Are there quality differences in the faculty teaching online? Do students need concern themselves that they are getting faculty who “couldn’t cut it” on a traditional campus?

DE: I don’t think that there is a systematic problem. One might be surprised at how many traditional classroom faculty teach online, as well. While most successful classroom instructors have success teaching online, there are important differences between these modes of teaching. I suspect that some instructors are more successful in an online setting than in a classroom environment, just as some students are more successful online than in the classroom. In addition, online colleges are more likely to have successful professionals in their fields teaching, and this may have enormous benefits for students.

ECS: What do you feel is the most important focus an online college must have in order to ensure that its students receive the very best education, while also keeping a very important eye on bottom-line growth?

DE: There are two focal points: the academic content delivered, which is far more standardized in online colleges, and the ability and willingness of the faculty to give sufficient personal attention to students.

ECS: Any final comments?

DE: I think that most students are well served by having some combination of online and classroom education. A good classroom course will appeal to students with good oral communications skills while asynchronous online education tends to appeal to the more contemplative students who express themselves better in writing. Both types of students are well served by developing both types of skills.

Online education is certainly not “your daddy’s online education.” And with the elimination of the “50 Percent Rule,”_[1] a boom in online course offerings is soon to appear. How can we be sure that online colleges and others offering online education get it right this time—and continue to do so? Perhaps David Elliott best answered that question: “The institution that offers quality instruction in both the classroom and online will be making the wave of the future.”

¹Passed in 1992, the “50 Percent Rule” was passed to stem a glut of fraud perpetuated by so-called diploma mills and correspondence schools of the ’80s. It stymied online course growth by preventing any college that enrolled more than 50 percent of its students at a distance or provided more than half of its courses via distance education from participating in federal student-aid programs.