2.8 Informing Students About Online Class Expectations

Reading time: 2 min.
Video time: 0

Providing clear, detailed information about DE classes helps students (a) determine if your class is right for them, and (b) get ready for success in your class. For fully online classes, students may be anxious about how, when, and where they are expected to get started. For hybrid classes, students want to know what the expectations are for in-person meetings and/or proctoring.

It is best to provide students with key information in advance of the beginning of class. Faculty who seek to communicate with students prior to the start of class have a couple recommended options:

Publish the Canvas class and make available the home page, syllabus, and any other pages that can help enrolled students be prepared for your class. Keep other parts of the class unpublished if you are still working on them and/or want to have students hold off on access until the class actually begins.
Use Self-Service to send an email to all enrolled students prior to the beginning of class. (You can't send students a message via the Canvas Inbox until your class is published.)

Details on these options are included in the document that is described in more detail on the next page.

Module Home