What do you expect from your students?

Instructor on Laptop- What are your expectations?

It is important to clearly state your expectations to your students. Doing so will help them get off to a good start and will also reduce the number of emails and calls you receive from students asking basic questions about what they are supposed to do. According to e-learning author and consultant Dr. Judith Boettcher, the imporance of setting clear expectations cannot be overemphasized (Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online (Links to an external site.)).

If you are new to teaching online but have taught in the classroom, think about the information you provide to your students on the first day of class. What do you tell them? Do you give them any handouts in addition to the syllabus? What questions do student typically ask you the first day? That is the type of information to give students in writing in an online course.

 

Information to Include

Topic

Questions to Answer

Participation and attendance

  • How often should students log in to the online course?
  • How do you define "participation and attendance" in your online course?
  • How many hours a week should they expect to spend working in the course?
  • Is the course an online course or a hybrid course? Does it have any face-to-face meetings?

Contact information

  • What is your name and contact information?
  • How can students contact you? What is your preferred method of contact?
  • What are your office hours? How should students contact you during office hours?

Communication

  • How soon can students expect a response from you? Do you reply on weekends or only on weekdays?
  • What communication do you expect from students? How soon should they contact you when there is a problem? How much advance notification do you require if the student has a conflict with a deadline?
  • What is the proper online etiquette when interacting with others (including the professor) in an online course?

Grading

  • How is the semester grade for the course determined?
  • How soon can students expect feedback on their graded assignments and exams?

Assignments, discussions, and exams

  • What are your expectations for assignments, discussion posts, exams, and other course activities? How are they graded? (Consider using grading schemes and rubrics.)
  • What are the deadlines for the assignments? Are the deadlines firm? Are there any exceptions to the deadlines?
  • Where do students take the exams? Do they take them online at the location of their choice, or are they required to take them at a specific testing center or other proctored location?
  • How many exams are included in the course? What types of questions are included on the exams?
  • Do the exams have a time limit? For what time period are they available?

Textbook

  • Are students required to purchase a textbook for the course? 
  • What is the textbook? Give the title, edition, author, and ISBN.
  • How much reading is required each week?

Technology requirements

  • Do students need their own computers for this course?
  • What type of Internet access do they need?
  • Is any specialized software required for the course?
  • Are computers available on campus?
  • How can they get technical support?

 

Syllabus Contract

Consider having students complete a "syllabus contract" in which they verify that they have read and agree to abide by the syllabus and course policies and procedures.  The contract can be a question in a Getting Started section of your course and can be a quiz or an assignment.