Being present for students

In an online space, students may need an extra reminder that faculty members are there to assist with learning and support them more generally. Here are a few ways to make your presence known and be available in a virtual capacity.

Schedule a Zoom session in Brightspace, name it Office Hours, and invite students to join. Be clear about the purpose of your office hours and how you’ll run them. Will they be a group Q+A session? An opportunity to give personalized feedback? Or a chance to discuss proposed topics for an upcoming assignment? If you use your office hours for 1:1 conversations, specify time slots within your office hours that students can sign up for in advance. If you check the “Enable Waiting Room” setting when you schedule your office hour, students will be held in a waiting room and won’t join the meeting until you admit them, which is a good option for individual meetings. (Learn more about the waiting room here.) 

Announcements can be written in advance and scheduled to go out to the class on a specific day/time. We recommend drafting a weekly announcement to students to build your presence remotely. Use your announcements to welcome students to the week and get them excited about what’s coming up. 

Visit discussion forums to encourage and facilitate asynchronous discussions in your class. Visit the forums for a few minutes every day or two and write some personal replies to discussion threads or pose follow-up questions. Reading what students are contributing and signaling that you are present can help motivate students to engage in the forum in a thoughtful and meaningful way. 

Providing feedback as regularly and quickly as possible is especially valuable in a remote environment. Here are some options to effectively provide ongoing feedback in your class:

• Use the Assignments or Gradebook tool to provide written feedback to students.

• Set up office hours with time slots for individual feedback.

• Dedicate 15 minutes of class time to give generalized feedback to the group.

• Create short feedback videos. Record your screen and your voice. You can display the student’s work on the screen to help visually indicate which part of the submission you’re talking about. This is fast and can be an effective way to provide personalized feedback and connection.

Send an announcement or email to students after a live class to recap some of the things you discussed, provide links to content mentioned, or pose questions for further discussion.