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Effective Practices in Online Teaching: Online Classroom Management

CSI Staff

Staff Writer

Center for Support of Instruction

Published: January-February 2005

Category: » Online-pedagogy » Classroom-management

In this second in a series, we look at some of the techniques that faculty member have reported as effective techniques in online classroom management over the years.

Repeating it over again: Saying it everywhere might be more confusing

In an attempt to help students find material such as due dates, project descriptions, or reading assignments, some faculty start by trying to place the material in several locations. While this might seem like a good way to avoid having something important overlooked, it can lead to confusion, making it harder to find information rather than easier. Jakob Nielsen has written on the concept of "information pollution" -- how more information may actually mean less is being understood. The problem is not just for students. If class material is reused in future semesters, the faculty member will also have to track down each piece of information and update it (for instance new due dates for a new semester), or risk the embarrassing situation of having inconsistent information appearing in different places. It is advisable to post information in only one logical and intuitive location.

That's Monday afternoon in Japan: Keeping time zones in mind

Deadlines are an important reality of higher education. UMUC has long served a student body that spans the globe and with the advent of online education, it has become much easier to have participants in one class from many different time zones. Some instructors tell students they can submit assignments by a certain hour in the student's own local time. For most times of the year, then, the due date would effectively be six hours earlier for students in Germany than those in Florida. Some faculty members find setting deadlines to one certain time zone a more practical approach. So, a deadline for 11:00 pm US Eastern Standard Time on Sunday December 12, 2004 would mean a deadline of Sunday 8:00 pm for students in California, Monday 7:00 am for students in Kuwait, and Monday 1:00 pm for students in Japan. Needless to say, it's important to be clear about time zones and dates when it comes to using this system of deadlines. For the convenience of students and faculty alike, WebTycho includes a link to a world clock under Options, which will lets users calculate the time in different locations around the world.

But I can't read WordPerfect files: Letting them know what you want

Students should know in which formats they can submit their work. While most modern word processing programs do an acceptable job of converting documents to and from a wide array of file formats, there can be problems, and there are those cases where formats just seem irreconcilable. Some faculty members say they accept work in either MS-Word or RTF format ("rich text format", an open standard developed by Microsoft some time ago). Others have students submit work as zipped HTML files (HTML files can no longer be attached directly by students in WebTycho) or as Adobe PDF documents. Whatever format is chosen, it is important that this be communicated to students and that it not be too onerous for them to comply.

Best before...: Keeping announcements organized

Classroom announcements are an excellent way to communicate important and time-sensitive information to students. Everyone sees it -- no digging around in Syllabus, Course Content, or Conferences -- and it's the first thing students see when they enter a class. Experienced faculty members say three elements are key to effective online classroom announcements:

1. Date announcements: Students should know how recent an assignment is, when it "came into effect", and whether it has been superceded by some other announcement. This is especially true for announcements like "Reminder: the first paper is due on midnight on Sunday".
2. Sort in reverse chronological order: Faculty members often take advantage of the fact that students see the announcement first thing when they enter the classroom. If students have to scroll down to see the most recent piece of information, it is much more likely to be overlooked.
3. Keep an archive: There is a limit to how much text can be kept in the announcements section, and this becomes a particular problem if the announcement is marked up in HTML. If students are able to refer back to previous announcements for clarification, reminders, or even as a resource, it means fewer repetitive questions to the faculty member. A simple technique is to copy-paste older announcements into a separate topic in a new Course Content item entitled "Archived Announcements".

More ways to maximize the effectiveness of online classroom management can be found in GSMT and SUS's Expectations Documents.