In Practice: Student-Initiated Contact

From the Rubric

• Incomplete: Instructor contact information, including expected response times, is missing or not easy to find. 

• Aligned: Students are encouraged to initiate contact with the instructor through easily accessed contact information that includes expected response times. 

• Exemplary: Students are provided with multiple means of contacting the instructor and are encouraged to do so throughout the course.

How to Implement

Encourage students to contact you for support by making your contact information crystal clear, providing easy access to that information, and including frequent reminders that encourage students to reach out. Here are some ideas:

• Rather than burying contact info in a long syllabus, include it in various Canvas communications.

• Include a "Let's Stay Connected" section on the Canvas home page and/or at the end of each weekly Canvas module with all the ways that students can get in touch.

• Include a "Let's Stay Connected" slide at the end of each PowerPoint presentation including all the ways that students can get in touch.

• Include a "Staying Connected" page in a course orientation module in Canvas.

• Rename "Office Hours" to "Student Visiting Hours" to encourage students to attend.

Additional Resources

Sample Contact Section:

Let's Stay Connected!

Here are the various ways to best reach me:

• Office Hours: Mon. & Wed. @ 11:15a in Zoom Room: _______

• Email me @ ___________

• Send me a Canvas Inbox message

• Send me a Pronto message

Messages do slip by me occasionally, so if you've sent me a message and 24 hours have passed without a response from me, please feel free to resend your message.