Planning for Teaching With the Web
Define and Communicate Course Requirements
Save time and frustration by making your expectations explicit.
Making expectations explicit is even more urgent for the distance learners in the PMHNP program who miss out on the natural socialization to graduate studies that on-campus students enjoy.
Furthermore, distance learners do not have the informal access to instructors (before, during and after class, for example) that on-campus students generally have and use to ask questions or get additional information. Similarly, distance learners are typically isolated from classmates who, in on-campus settings, often serve as informal networks of information and socialization.
"One [challenge] ... was the limited time spent face to face with the instructors as well as the learning that takes place from interactions with class mates and hearing their questions in class."
It may be necessary, therefore, to orient distance learners and clearly state expectations that might be self-evident to students who meet in class on a regular basis. Therefore, it can help if you are ready to communicate your requirements and expectations, both for the course and for students enrolled in a graduate program.
Use the questions and tips below to guide you.
- Making the Most of Your Time
- Define and Communicate Course Requirements
- Develop Guidelines for Instructor–Student Communication
- Foster Positive Work Relationships With Your Students
Course Requirements
Don’t wait!
- Email the syllabus to students before the course begins. Distance learners generally need longer to get "organized" for the course due to more limited (or slower) access to materials.
- Similarly, if during the course you make a last minute change, allow distance learners time to tune into and adjust to that change.
Course Website TIP: As an alternative to emailing changes, create a space on the course homepage where announcements and changes will be posted. Make sure that students know to check the website regularly.
"I don’t check email every day, so it can be frustrating for a prof. to expect you to be responsible for something they sent out at the last minute."
Assignments
PMHNP distance learners appreciate the flexibility of being in an online course and the ability to adjust learning to their schedules. However, a danger of working alone at one’s own pace is that it can be easy to fall behind or put things off.
- Remind your students that the assumption for graduate work is that students will work 3 hours per week for every 1 hour in class. For distance learners, this means 3 hours in addition to watching video streams.
- Make reference to the assignments from time to time as the course proceeds. These informal references will help students keep assignments "on their radar" and nudge them along. For example,
"This would be a good thing to address in your papers."
"This resource should be especially useful for your case studies."
"Someone mentioned this in the online discussion – it would make an excellent topic for assignment 3."
- Remind your students. Checking in with students, by email or class listserv, will keep assignments and their due dates visible even if they are not discussed further.
Course Website TIP: Have a central place on the course website where all assignments (and their due dates) are listed. Keep this list simple – just the assignment and due date – with a hyperlink to more specific information about the assignments on other web pages. This helps students gage at a glance where they are in their progress toward completing assignments on time.
"I am also finding it difficult to figure out exactly what they are requesting for assignments. I think that I am doing it right but not having the one on one contact is psychologically making it difficult."
"Web-based, self paced study is hard to keep up on, especially in the summer, but the information provided through the lesson plan was thorough and contributed to my learning."
"I am not sure whether or not I am understanding the material because I am not under a structured class setting where I have an opportunity to ask a question directly to the professor or to another classmate. I understand that there is a discussion link that we can ask questions but I feel somewhat odd and definitely would feel more comfortable in asking the question in person."
Readings
Experience suggests that very few students manage to read everything on the course reading list. Prioritize readings to help your students make more effective decisions about how to approach reading list:
- Indicate which are readings are required and which are optional (or "read later") for the course.
- Tell students which texts demand careful reading and understanding of details and which can be skimmed for identification of key points.
Aside from the benefit of alleviating discouragement for students who are trying but unable to keep up with the entire reading list, prioritizing the reading list has the additional benefit of ensuring that students are more prepared for class discussion. For example, some instructors prioritize reading into three groups.
- required readings (must read)
- additional readings (should read)
- optional readings (may read)
"There is so much to do in so little time. This stress detracts from really focusing on what I am to learn and contributes to my "scanning" the information."
"The readings have been so long for each module that it is taking a lot of time just to complete this part of the course. Hence, the time to actually complete the assignments once I have finished the readings has been limited."
"The readings are interesting, but I'm never sure how much time and depth to spend on web sites."
Grades
Be specific. Avoid adopting generic grading policies without clarifying how these policies translate to the work you expect from students.
Generic grading policies or matrices should be used as guidelines, but not presented to students as representative of your grading policy because they tell students very little about the expectations for specific assignments. For a sample of generic matrix see from UW’s FROG site: http://depts.washington.edu/grading/practices/guidelin.htm
Specify how you will grade your assignments:
- What do you look for and value in student work?
- What would contribute to a higher or lower grade?
For guidelines applicable to course website design, see:
- Foster community and positive work relationships among students
- Foster positive work relationships with your students
Addtional Resources
See also CIDR's collection of resources and tools on:
