Communicating with Students

Developing open and receptive communication with your students is of utmost importance in online/hybrid sources. Since you may limited or no have face to face content, there is a reliance on emails, forum posts, and online communication that may not have been there before. Please see the topics below to begin building your best practices in communicating with students.

On this page, you will find resources on netiquette and email guidelines, creating course welcome letters, developing course introduction videos, group/peer contracts, and communication expectations.


Practice and Teach Netiquette

Netiquette is the term used to describe the special set of rules for online communication. Because students in the online learning environment are unable to experience the body language, tone of voice, or facial expressions of their peers, it is important to make them aware of netiquette guidelines at the beginning of the course. Instructors can emphasize that netiquette will be useful not only for their course, but also for future professional interactions (Ogilvie, 2006). By making netiquette information explicit, students will better understand how to effectively communicate in Discussion Forums, online classes, and the online environment overall.

Link to Teaching Netiquette and accompanying Netiquette Guidelines PDF


Create Email Guidelines for Students

Email inquiries from students will increase in an online or hybrid course. It can be helpful to establish guidelines for email communication at the outset of the course. Here are some sample handouts from on an online ENG 101 section and an online ENG 105 section.

You can also have students write you an introductory email following the email guidelines/expectations that you have set up on the Moodle site. Please keep in mind that these expectations should be set early in the semester if students are expected to follow them throughout the semester.


Course Welcome Letter

A week or two before your course begins, you should send your students a welcome letter. This letter can remind students what type of course environment they’re enrolled in as well as relay important details about the course setup before it begins.

Although your letter will be contextualized/personalized for your specific course, here is an online ENG 101 welcome letter, as well as an online ENG 105 sample letter.

Additional samples from other courses can be found in this folder of sample welcome letters and templates that you can adapt.


Create a Video Introduction to Your Course

When teaching online, it is essential to establish teaching presence. This has been correlated with increased affect and motivation, a sense of classroom community, and successful student learning (Faculty, 2012).

A high­ quality welcome video is a key building block of teaching presence, as it allows you to show students not only a preview of the course, but also a glimpse of who you are as a professor. (NCSU DELTA, 2014)

You can find information on using videos in your classroom on the Teaching with Technology and Videos page on this website or you can read through the DELTA link listed below.

DELTA Link: How to Create a Video Course Introduction


Course Contracts and Community Guidelines

If you’d like students to work together in peer groups for peer review activities and/or other group or collaborative assignments and projects within the course, consider how you’d like to establish community guidelines and/or implement group contracts.

You can find some resources  on group contracts, peer review guidelines, and group work in this Google Document on Contracts/Guidelines.

We have also provided an example of a peer rubric; however, keep in mind that much of the review guidelines, course contracts, and participation expectations can be translated to the online environment.

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