Course Expectations

Set the Standard

Teaching and learning spaces, whether in-person or remote, are dynamic environments with myriad personalities, sociocultural influences, ways of learning and educational experience, each of which influence the energy, engagement and participation with the students in the class.

By setting expectations at the start of your course, your students will know what is expected of each of them, of you, and of the class, which will positively impact the class culture and set everyone up for success.

Expectations of Conduct

Classroom management is a key component of any course delivery modality. Conduct in the classroom – in-person, virtual or hybrid – sets the stage for students feeling comfortable and confident in engaging, contributing and taking academic risk amongst their peers. Positive classroom management begins with setting expectations that are specific, reasonable, and attainable.

Student Conduct

Including students in the co-creation of expectations pertaining to conduct will increase compliance because they set the rules, consequently giving them ownership of and accountability towards those expectations.

Set aside some time during your first or second class to discuss and develop a class Code of Conduct that encourages an open educational space where students feel safe to take academic risk. You can do this collaboratively as a whole or break students off into groups to develop ideas and then bring the class back together. Examples of points to consider include demonstrating respect towards all in the classroom community and what that looks like, use of language (written, verbal and physical), and appropriate use of class time.

Once the expectations have been set, post them in a prominent place in the DC Connect course shell, and refer students back to them whenever classroom management requirements stray from positive to correction.

Participation

Students want to know what is expected of them regarding class participation. While you will always have some who are more eager to engage than others, it will be important to outline your specific expectations and the appropriate procedures for participation during your synchronous time together. Consider the following:

1. Co-create the expectations and process for class discussions with your students. Discuss this on the first day of class when you are developing your class Code of Conduct.
   Guiding Questions:
   • How will you facilitate discussions? What procedure will remote students follow to answer a question, contribute an idea or participate in a full class discussion? Should they raise their hand physically on camera? Raise their virtual hand? Speak aloud to indicate they have something to contribute?
     Consider… How will online students ask questions?
     Will you have an in-person representative monitoring the chat? Will students raise their hand on camera or their virtual hand? Will they ask questions through the chat or speak to the class?
2. Check in periodically with your remote students. Check that they can hear you and their classmates, and that you can hear them. Pause at the end of each chunk of material, or after difficult concepts, to check for understanding.
   Guiding Questions:
   • How will you promote participation from your remote students? Will you directly ask that group if they have any thoughts to contribute or questions? How will you plan to routinely scan the screen to observe for any hands up?
     Consider… How will your online students focus on you?
     Microphones and cameras limit faculty from traveling around the room. How will you ensure that your online students can always see and hear you?
3. Choose your active learning strategies purposefully, and plan for the execution ahead of your class time. When possible, intermix virtual and in-person students within group tasks or create learning pods with students from various participation modes. You may have more, or fewer, students joining remotely or in-person on any given day, so prepare a modification plan for the activity. Where possible, be sure to let the students know that there will be a group activity during the next class and encourage those with laptops or personal devices to bring them to facilitate the use of breakout rooms between both in-person and remote students.
   Guiding Questions:
   • How will you engage and encourage participation for pair, trio or small group activities with both in-person and remote students in class? Will you have the in-person students working together in class and the remote students working together in channels or breakout rooms? Will you merge them together and have the remote and in-person students working together using channels or breakout rooms?
     Consider… How will your students complete group work?
     How will you conduct group work to be inclusive? How will you encourage collaboration between F2F and online students?
4. It can be difficult to manage the chat while teaching, so appoint a student to be the “voice of the chat”. Plan moments in your class to pause and ask if there are questions and thoughts from the chat. Derek Bruff, the director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University, recommends adding an image similar to the one shown to your presentation at various points to offer a reminder.
   Guiding Questions:
   • Where does the conferencing platform chat fit into your instructional plan? Will you encourage or discourage students from using it during your synchronous time? Will you use the chat to promote participation for those students who are uncomfortable sharing their voice or have location or audio challenges? Will you restrict it to questions only?
     Consider… How will students use the chat?