6.6 | Student-to-Instructor Engagement | Communication Plan
Establishing a Communication Plan
Especially in the first week of your online course, you will want to establish a workflow and reminders for yourself to check the following pieces daily, if not two or three times a day:
- Cañada College email for frantic messages
- Canvas Inbox for the same frantic messages
- The course Q&A forum
- Course analytics, especially the People page, to check for students who have not yet logged in
- The Meet & Greet/Icebreaker activity
- Any other assignments due in Week 1
Additionally, you will want to proactively reach out to any students who have not:
- Logged in by day 2
- Submitted an assignment by day 2 or 3
- Have missed a due date by day 5 or 6
Finally, you will want to be engaged in the discussions daily (though not dominating them), and you will want to grade quickly in week one. Feedback and grading both serve to make you more real to the student, which is an important part of developing your social and teaching presence during the first week. Return to the main page and select the Feedback button to learn more.