Standard 1.4 makes sure that any policies that students are expected to comply with are clearly stated. This is new in the 2011 rubric and is aimed at things like plagiarism policies and behavior policies. You might include a link to the Student Code of Conduct and be sure students know that it applies to the online classroom as well as the physical classroom.
Standard 1.5 makes sure you note any course prerequisites - you are probably required to have this in your syllabus anyway. Standard 1.6 notes any technical skills needed. I satisfy that with a link to a college web page that lists that information in a general way for distance education students (at least I think I do - I'd better double check).
Standard 1.7 is about the instructor's self introduction. Instructor presence is really important and your introduction is the first step towards establishing that. Think about how you want to project yourself to your students. Remember, they may not see you, they may have no idea about your reputation. Take a moment to establish your credibility and set the tone for the class. You'll find mine in the Global Studies class under the Global Studies Orientation folder, the last link. Instructions on how to access the class are in the navigation bar on the right. I posted a couple of articles on instructor presence below - try Googling the phrase "instructor presence" for even more.
Standard 1.8 is about student introductions. This is a great way to begin to establish a feeling of community in your class. Although I generally don't participate in discussions, I try to reply to every student introduction. I give them a specific intro assignment that I got from one of my faculty at University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The Four Nouns asks students to use 4 nouns to introduce themselves. You'll find the specific assignment under the Global Studies Orientation, Step 2 - Post Your Personal Description. During the class, I post my own 4 nouns to set the tone and then sit back and enjoy the creative student introductions that follow.
The QM rubric makes an important note about introductions in a hybrid course. It is good to have them online even if the students introduce themselves in class (which they often don't), so that students can refer to them later. It is also a great way to get the hybrid class started when the first face to face session is not until later in the week.
Resources:
Find a link to the Quality Matters Rubric under Resources on the right.
An Examination of Online Instructor Presence via Threaded Discussion Participation, report on a scholarly study from the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT)
Balancing Act: Managing Instructor Presence and Workload When Creating an Interactive Community of Learners, a quick article from Instructor Focus
The Impact of Instructor Immediacy and Presence for Online Student Affective Learning, Cognition, and Motivation, a scholarly study from the Journal of Online Educators
The Indicators of Instructor Presence that are Important to Students in Online Courses another report on a scholarly study from JOLT
Instructor Presence in the online classroom, a blog post from Online Learning Insights
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