On Thursday, January 20th the spring semester for classes at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks began, and with that I activated my online courses so my students – enrolled through the banner system – could start work.
Although I’ve taught my online courses for over 7 years the beginning of the semester is always the same. The only thing that will be different between us, if you are a new online instructor, is that I won’t be nervous.
There are three types of students in online courses: the overachievers, normal students (note: they aren’t necessarily ‘normal’), and the one’s that do nothing in your course (the ‘do-nothings’ – not meant as an insult).
Naturally, the overachievers will email, call, or instant message you on the first or second day of class if possible. They are often the one’s that let you know as soon as possible they are looking for an ‘A’ in the course. They can be a bit much, but of course they are also nice to have because you know when to help them (they ask you), you can get any information you need from them immediately, and they are very communicative generally. These students are usually excellent online learners.
Do-nothings are, as their name implies, don’t do anything in the class. They may turn in 1-2 assignments at the beginning of the course, if ever. You don’t need to think much about these students. Spot them early by their inability to turn in work and lack of communication with you. Message them to make sure they aren’t having technical issues, but if they never respond to you they are a lost cause. I’ve never understood why you would sign up for a course ($500 at least/course) and not do the work. But then again, online course are not for everyone; some people just aren’t self-motivated or just don’t like online classes! Having said all that, drop these students from your course early.
That leaves ‘normal’ students. Normal students will stroll leisurely into your classroom, not always read all your directions (or possibly even your syllabus), and will arrive late. This doesn’t mean they are poor students – many of them can become quite good online learners – but, they will need some hand-holding. Many of them are new to online courses. Your job is to guide them through the introductory material, at the very least, and to help them whenever possible. Even seemingly small technical glitches or other issues can derail these students (especially at the beginning of the semester), so handle them with care! However, you will be rewarded, most of the time, by the end of the semester once these students have had a successful and fulfilling experience with your online course, because they will be happy and full of praise. These students need to be prodded (with email) from time to time to remind them to do work in their online courses. Try not to be annoyed or upset by this, it’s the nature of online learning that it’s not always obvious when work needs to be done or what the timeline is (remember they don’t always read your syllabus). Also, the calendar tends to slip away online more easily than it does face-to-face (it happens to everyone). So be calm, and patient, and send those gentle reminders to your students.
One of the most important things to do in the first week of class is to make contact will ALL your students. When I say make contact, I mean actual contact – whether by phone, email, IM, or even face-to-face if possible or necessary – and this communication must be two-way (meaning you emailed them and they email you back). Make sure to get from each of your students their ‘preferred’ email address (the one they actually check), and their preferred mode of contact.
If you do this you’ll have more than enough questions from your students to keep you busy for the week. If you have time while you’re answering questions, solving technical issues, and fixing errors in your course material (your overachievers especially will point these out), you can prepare for your second week of class: keeping your students interested and engaged.