Student-to-instructor interaction is integral for student success. Here are some ideas to help with meaningful communication with your students.

Communicate Frequently

Use the Announcements tool in eLC to post reminders, relevant information, and important notifications for your students. 
Want something more closely aligned with the social media feeds that your students use? Add the Activity Feed widget to your course homepage. You can create posts and enable comments, so your students can respond to any memos or announcements and interact with one another. Watch the YouTube video for an overview of the Activity Feed widget.

Check In (With Your Students and Colleagues)

You can support and encourage your students to feel comfortable engaging with their online learning community by checking in with them throughout the course. Establish virtual “office hours” where students can make appointments to meet with you either by phone or via videoconference. In smaller classes, you can schedule short “weekly wellness check-ins” with each of your students to ask how they are doing (via email, phone, or videoconference). For larger classes, schedule wellness check-ins with the struggling students to identify barriers and co-construct a plan of action or solution.

Give Timely Feedback

Timely feedback is a key component of keeping students motivated and engaged in an online course. Inform students of when they can expect to receive feedback from you on assignments and maintain those deadlines. For assignments that build on one another, provide feedback on the earlier components before you expect students to submit the next piece. Use rubrics to convey feedback and assess student work. There are grading rubrics built into eLC that you can link to assignments and discussions. Visit the eLC help page for information on creating and using rubrics in eLC.