highlight thoughts from students' posts that are especially strong in content or reasoning. Additionally, they could spur the discussion deeper or redirect it as needed. It is recommended that the instructor not always respond to the same students, which can create perceptions of an inequitable classroom atmosphere.
At the end of each week, when there is such an activity, faculty are encouraged to post a summary within the forum to the class, providing feedback on themes they observed in the students' posts, strengths and weaknesses, redirection, and corrections where the discussion may have drifted. This is yet another teaching moment to stress the objectives of the assignment.
Faculty-to-student feedback related to grades for discussion forums/collaborative learning should be private in the LMS gradebook, not placed in the forum itself.
Additionally, instructors might decide to host a voluntary, synchronous video meeting with students using a platform like Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
Due to the often-accelerated nature of online education, timeliness in all online-related communications is one of the most critical factors for faculty engagement and student success. To ensure that students have timely responses to inquiries, instructors should respond to student emails, phone calls, or other modes of communication within twenty-four (24) hours ideally, but no later than forty-eight (48) hours. Written communications to students should be cordial, address the student by name, be well-written and thorough, and should answer content-related questions.
Internal communications between faculty and administration regarding urgent online matters require timely responses to triage and mitigate specific issues. When such an issue is flagged as urgent (which should be somewhat rare), please respond to applicable communication as soon as possible.
KYSU Online does not require that online faculty hold virtual office hours, but instructors can choose to offer this to their students. Due to the nature of online learning and the unique needs of online students, faculty are expected to schedule online appointments with students who request to one. Although KYSU Online does not require a minimum number of virtual office hours each week, instructors should invite students to schedule synchronous communication such as phone calls or video conferences when needed (on platforms like Microsoft Teams or Zoom).11 The instructor should be reasonably available and accommodating to student’s meeting requests within a couple of days. Additionally, online faculty should be reasonably flexible to accommodate the schedules of online students, who sometimes prefer meetings outside the regular business hours of 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Sometimes students inquire about the course content via email, but a response is more effectively communicated in a conversation rather than an email response. Instructors should proactively embrace
11 “Since instruction by distance education technologies does not allow for the same degree of interaction between students and teacher that is possible in a traditional classroom setting, provision should be made for the students to confer personally with the teacher at designated times” (https://www.aaup.org/report/statement-online-and-distance-education).