Areas of Management

One or more Instructional Managers may be responsible for managing classroom materials. Examples of these types of responsibilities are:

• Printing out paper handouts/worksheets/etc. for the students before class time and bringing them to class

• Coordinating distribution and collection of materials such as printed worksheets or white boards and markers

• Coordinate getting microphones to students quickly when needed

A common responsibility for an Instructional Manager is setting up and managing classroom technology. Examples include:

• Logging in and starting class slides and projectors/screens before class

• Starting response system ("clicker") software before class

• Starting class recording (e.g., Panopto) before class

• Ensuring that online files or applications shared with students are working properly before class

• Troubleshooting or addressing technology problems during class

• Checking that files ("clicker" response files, Panopto recordings, etc.) are properly saved and uploaded to the appropriate place(s) after class

Within Module 5: Strategies and tools for common IM responsibilities, you will find links to resources for navigating the classroom technologies most commonly used on the UArizona campus.

Some instructors ask one or more Instructional Managers to provide them with certain kinds of information during class. For example, an IM might:

• Signal or talk to the instructor when most student groups are done with an activity (which would likely require communication with Learning Assistants on the instructional team)

• Signal or talk to the instructor if several student groups are "stuck" on part of an activity (which would likely require communication with Learning Assistants on the instructional team)

• Signal or talk to the instructor if the pace of content delivery is too fast or too slow (according to some measure agreed on by the IM and instructor, or through communication with Learning Assistants on the instructional team)

An Instructional Manager may take on responsibility for some kinds of communication with students. Examples include:

• Sending weekly e-mails with course reminders

• Receiving course-related e-mails from students. An IM may be able to answer many questions themselves, and forward other messages to the person who can answer them (e.g., they may answer questions about assignment deadlines and forward requests for exam makeups to the course instructor)

• Respond to course-management related questions student post on a course chat channel

• Stand at the instructor's station in the classroom before class to answer course-related questions to "protect" the instructor as they are preparing to start class

An Instructional Manager may play a role managing the instructional team. For example, an Instructional Manager may:

• Coordinate Learning Assistants' office hour schedules, including substitutes for missed office hours

• Lead (or co-lead) instructional team meetings or back-up meetings for team members with different schedules

• Communicate important information to team members when they miss team meetings

• Send reminder emails to instructional team members

• Record Learning Assistants' attendance in class and at team meetings

• Print handouts/worksheets/etc. and bring them to team meetings

• Delegate classroom management responsibilities to other team members (e.g., appoint a Learning Assistant to ensure white boards are handed out to students on "white board activity days")

• Establish and manage team communication channels (e.g., an instructional team Slack or Discord channel, GroupMe chat, etc.)

• Rarely, an IM with a lot of LA or related experience may coach Learning Assistants in how to interact with student groups and provide them feedback

Many or most courses rely on their Desire2Learn (D2L) sites for communication, course assignments, resource-sharing, etc. An IM may have responsibilities related to managing the course D2L site. Examples include:

• Post Discussion prompts, Announcements, etc.

• Convert quizzes to D2L format and post

• Check due dates, links, etc., before they "go live"

• Make recommendations about the D2L organization to improve the student experience

• Field student e-mails about D2L and help resolve technical issues

Although not as common as other areas, sometimes an instructor will ask an IM to handle part of managing student grades (or team-member grades, if team members are earning credit). In such a case, the IM is usually a graduate TA assigned to the course. Examples include:

• Keeping track of students' participation and entering participation points into the D2L grade book

• Entering students' grades for written work or exams into the D2L grade book

• Distributing/collecting student work to/from team members with grading responsibilities and entering points into the D2L grade book

• Answering students' questions about assignment or participation grades for which the IM is responsible