This article focuses on the Quality Assurance Learner Interaction 1.3 with examples on how to meet the standard.

Required

The Quality Assurance Rubric, for the Learner Interaction Section 1.3 states: 

The expectations of the instructor are clearly defined, including how, when, and where the instructor will interact with students.

 

Expectations

1. The instructor needs to explicitly state when the students will receive feedback, when he/she is available to help them (e.g. office hours), and the anticipated turn-around time on returning graded assignments back to them.
   • In terms of feedback, simply stating, "Email me questions and I will reply back to you," is not a sufficient statement to satisfy this standard, nor is "I will return feedback within a reasonable amount of time." What one person's definition of "reasonable" is, will likely differ from another.
   1. The instructor's role in course activities (e.g., discussions) should be clarified.
   2. The instructor's role in supporting the students should be clarified, especially if the course utilizes third-party tools.
   3. The instructor should regularly prompt the students for feedback and respond to this feedback.
   4. The instructor helps keep students on task via reminders of due dates, discussion prompts, etc.

 

Examples

1. Provide statements like:

 

• "Unless otherwise stated, I will respond to emails within 24 hours on weekdays, or by the end of the day on Monday if you email me during the weekend. If you do not hear from me within those time frames, please send me a follow-up email or call my office number."
• "Unless otherwise stated, I will generally grade and post assignments one week from when they are received."
• "I will moderate all discussions but will not participate, per se. I will step in to guide the direction if I feel it is getting off on a tangent."
• "I will participate in discussions by first posting a discussion question. You are then to discuss the question amongst yourselves. I may interject with follow-up questions at my discretion. At the end of the discussion, I will send a summary response to the group within one week."
• "For assistance with (tool), please contact the vendor's support at..."

2. Setup "virtual" office hours using the Collaborate, the chat room, discussions, or email. In that way, students will know when you are available for quick feedback.

3. Instructors can use D2L reminder tools; e.g., the Calendar, News, and Notifications tools — to keep students on task.

 

References

• QM FIPSE rubric V.3
• QOLT 2.6, 5.3, 5.7, 5.8, 7.1