I am new to the online environment. Do you think it is acceptable to be available to students by phone and have set office hours on the weekdays only?
Hi Melanie! Thanks for your question. This is Jay Hollowell from MaxKnowledge and I am guest facilitating this course for awhile.
I think it is really up to the instructor and his/her schedule as well as any institutional policy. Online students of course, not in a class environment,still need assistance and coaching from their teacher.
Set office hours are a good idea, particularly since the internet is 24/7; if no office hours on Saturday, then certainly for selected evenings - it really depends upon when and how often your online class meets or whether or not it is totally asynchronous.
Bottom line, online instructors should run their schedules in concert with their students' schedules to ensure ease of communication.
Jay Hollowell
Guest Facilitator
I do have a few questions to all regarding availability to students. Since I am new to teaching online, I was wondering how you all decide on your virtual office hours. Do you have a morning and evening time of availability on particular days? Do you implement a weekend time of availability? I would appreciate any suggestions from you all on what has worked and what has not worked. Also, do you mention your virtual office hours when you are doing your biography?
I have read your posts and I know that I am one who determines availability according to my schedule. I am just curious about some do's and don'ts. I do teach in a traditional setting and even though you provide the students with office hours you still have constant interruptions because they do not oblige to your office hours.
We just have to do the best we can and make sure that we set clear expectations from day one. If a student works or has other obligations it is their responsibility to manage their time effectively and reach you during your available hours. I also allow my students to schedule office hours as long as it fits within my schedule.
Hi Crystal!
I have traditionally had office hours for online courses just as I would for the ones on ground. It depends of course on the course schedule and students' schedules. I have also offered limited office hours on Saturday if students could not be accomodated during the week.
I believe it is important to have designated office hours in an online environment, whether course activities are synchronous or asynchronous, since accessibility is so easy at any time.
I usually have posted office hours in the course syllabus and not in the biography.
Thanks for your questions,
Jay
EL102 Guest Facilitator
I tell students that I will respond in 24 hours. I always let them know that they can e-mail me or call me on my cell phone and I'll return their phone messages also within 24 hours - and specify the time frame for doing so.
Mark McMullen
If you make that promise to students, it is critically important that you deliver on it--which it sounds like you do. Thanks for your feedback Mark.
I feel that if you let students know of your epxectations at the beginning of the course - such as turn around time for emails and online assignemtns - you can save yourself a lot of headaches. I do not think it is reasonable for faculty to be chained to their laptop to be responsive to every student. It is ok to devote a block of time each day and then go ahead and still live your life!
Being clear on expectations is very important in helping students succeed. I think it also helps students organize their time when you set very clear deadlines. Thanks for sharing your ideas Rob!
Hello Patricia:
I believe that as a practical matter, boundaries must be established. I do believe in setting up meetings to discuss complicated questions regarding theoretical content, as I work at four institutions currently, and two are land-based. Hence, I do not have the luxury of being available to them when I am lecturing live.
I believe this fosters respect for the instructor as well; students must understand that instructor's time is valuable.
Best,
Susan Weiss
Setting boundaries is very important, as you stated Susan, and should be done the first day of class. When students know the "dos" and "don'ts" of the class, they have a higher probablity of being successful.
I have experienced this as well. I post office hours and my cell number for emergency situations. I tell them I am available on my cell phone most anytime (within reasonable hours) and they may call me if they need to get a hold me or they need help immediately. I have noticed that I typically have 1 or 2 students that use this as method to get my attention for anything. For the most part the students seem to email first and only use the phone as a last resort.
Patricia
I would add a couple of thoughts to the conversation: First, no boss is ever available every time an employee needs (wants) the boss.
Students need to learn to "plan" to get tasks accomplished. This may require getting started early (as few questions arise until a task is started). Students as well as workers need to learn how to manage time so that there is time "in the framework allowed" to ask questions, get responses, and respond to the comments of the instructor/boss.
Having a 24 or a 48 hour turnaround for questions is the framework established by each institution. If students are unable to successfully plan to use the framework, they will also not be successful in real life.
Butch
I provide my students the same information and also find that students seem more comfortable sending me an email versus calling my cell. Of course, it doesn't matter how they contact me, only that they do contact me when they need my help. Thanks for your comments Jeffrey.
Hi Patricia,
I think it is impossible to meet everyone's expectations for availability. There are always going to be students who expect 24/7 availability. I find many times these students can find the answers to their questions in the resources that are already available to them.
Julie
Hello -
I have found that when we stick to the posted schedule for office hours and turn-around-time for emails, students who try to reach you outside of those posted hours get very upset that you are not available at a time that is convenient to him/her. There are also times that they take that anger, and go above your head by reporting your lack of response (even if only a 30 minute wait) to their advisor.
Granted, we are only human, and are not available 24/7 to our students. If only they could understand that :-)
Good discussion!
Dawn Kaiser
Dawn,
We do need to set clear expectations at the beginning of any course, online or traditional. For online courses, we oftentimes need to be much more specific in those expectations and may need to remind students we are human and educate them on what would be considered "appropriate." If you have mobile access and the time, you can always send them a short response telling them you will get back with them later. Then they get immediate feedback, but you actually follow up with details at a later more appropriate time.
Herbert Brown III
