How often you check the class is an individual decision, but you should let your students know, up front, how often they can expect to hear from you. Checking in at least once each class day and once over the weekend is a good way to keep in touch and to keep the email and discussion forums from piling too high!
Within the various time-frames presented above, recognize the following four roles of an online facilitator.
List of Defined Roles with their Icon | Pedagogical: Guiding student learning with a focus on concepts, principles, and skills. |
 | Social: Creating a welcoming online community in which learning is promoted. |
 | Technical: Assisting participants to become comfortable with the technologies used to deliver the course. |
 | Managerial: Handling organizational, procedural, and administrative tasks. |
| Task | Roles |
|---|
| 1. | Be present and visible in your course per the expectations that you established in the first week of class. - Monitor the discussion forums, particularly the “General Questions” or “Ask the Professor” forum. If you choose, you can subscribe to discussion forums or individual threads to receive an email notification whenever a new post has been created.
- Respond to student questions promptly—consistent with the response timeframe stated in the syllabus. (Recommended: Within 24 hours, or within 48 hours on weekends.)
- If using other tools, engage with students in a way that they know they are supported in the overall learning environment.
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| 2. | Participate in discussion activities with a balanced approach. Try to steer the conversation to keep it on task and clarify misconceptions, yet not stifle it too early with authoritative or definitive posts that end the activity. Challenge the students by asking questions that apply to the instructional materials and communicating high expectations. | | | | |
| 3. | Enforce guidelines for learner behaviors such as netiquette and due dates. Immediately address any students with inappropriate posts/behavior. | | | | |
| 4. | Grade assignments and provide individual feedback promptly—with designed rubrics and within the feedback timeframe stated in the syllabus. Provide regular and responsive feedback on an ongoing basis, but especially early in the class, so under-performing students have the opportunity to incorporate your suggestions and improve their work in the next graded assignment. | | | | |
| 5. | Respect and facilitate diverse talents and ways of learning, and consistently address universal accessibility. | | | | |
| 6. | Ensure any on-the-fly materials are posted in easy-to-use, accessible formats, providing details for successfully downloading, if necessary. | | | | |
| 7. | Demonstrate competency with HuskyCT, and use tools appropriately. Seek help when needed. | | | | |
| 8. | Make reasonable accommodations due to technical difficulties beyond the students’ control consistent with policies in the syllabus and of the University. | | | | |
| 9. | Direct students to technical support resources, as needed. | | |
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For more information, contact: eCampus at eCampus@uconn.edu