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Inside Collection: Managing your Distance Course
Summary: This module emphasizes your ability to use Announcements and the Discussion area to write one message for the entire class to read.
All of us are very used to using email for common correspondence. Someone sends a message and you respond. Students attach assignments and you review them. Sounds pretty simple – doesn’t it?
You should realize that a course sets up a ratio of 1: the number of students in course. Without some management strategies, you will have a large number of individual messages in your in-box each week over the course of the semester. Remember, if the course is entirely online you won’t have the opportunity to informally talk with students before/after class or during the break. If you accept assignments as attachments, you will also have to develop some type of management strategy for all of the attachments.
Distance courses allow you to ‘write once so many can read.” Using the Announcement and discussion board features, you can provide information and/or answer questions by posting one message. You do have to provide information to students about the tools you will use and the expectations you have for them to read and review discussion forums dedicated to questions.
In the discussion board area, you will find a Forum titled Course Questions. This is the location I expect you to use to ask questions about the course. I also expect you to check the questions and responses to make sure your question has not already been addressed. I will check this Forum regularly and respond.
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This work is licensed by Keith Restine under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0), and is an Open Educational Resource.
Last edited by Keith Restine on May 13, 2008 6:56 pm -0500.
Managing Coursewide Communication
"General information on areas of a distance course where management strategies are important."