This information was gathered from RSU faculty.

1. The best advice I can give for teaching online is to respond to student emails in a quickly and timely fashion. This may sound trivial or you may believe that you already do this. Consider these questions: Have you told your students the turnaround time to expect? Do you post this information in your syllabus or in your emails the turnaround time for responses?

I also give all online students my cell phone number so they can reach me outside of normal office hours (or as an adjunct that doesn’t have an office), I tell them to leave a message and I will call them back.

I include the following statement in my student emails:

Students:
All communication needs to contain your full name and course. Emails may take up to 24 hrs (or by the end of the following business day) to return – excluding weekends, holidays, between semesters, and when the college is closed.

Feedback that I receive from students is that they can’t believe how quickly I respond to emails (usually same day) and that most of their teachers take a week (or more) to answer questions.

2. Consider delivering several modes of instruction for each piece of content/assignment. Preferences in how one receives information is critical in online education and the learning process.