Section 4: Student Interaction and Community

The instructor may encourage students to post their pictures and share some personal information such as hobbies to build the community at the beginning (e.g., Icebreaker forum, glossary posts, or a blog.

• Is there an ice-breaker activity where students introduce themselves in the first week of the class?
• Does the instructor encourage students to complete their Canvas profile?

The instructor provides a self-assessment for students to identify their readiness for learning online and learning strategies or provide a link to an online readiness survey such as the Online Readiness Self-Assessment from CSU Stanislaus This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.. The instructor also provides feedback or an action plan for students to aid them in successfully completing their course.

• Is there an activity (learner survey) to help students identify roadblocks for being a successful student? Topics in a survey may include collaboration, internet connectivity, hardware issues, commitments outside of class, diversity considerations, past experiences with online courses, etc.
• Is there a link to a campus student orientation that includes information about being a successful online student and navigating the Canvas platform?

Discussions are organized in clearly defined forums, threads, or communities. The course carries a consistent structure across modules. The number of steps users take to reach primary content is minimized.

• Are design elements used repetitively?
• Is everything labeled clearly (self-describing) and intuitive?
• Would it take a student more than 5 minutes to find something?
• Can students easily return to the homepage?
• Does it take two clicks or less to access primary course content, activities, and assessments from the course landing page?
• Is excessive scrolling (especially horizontal scrolling) minimized?

Learning activities support active learning and interaction that support SLOs. Activities are clear with concise outcomes that are appropriate and reasonable detail for actively participating. Video lessons that include assessments, polls, discussions, are examples to turn passive students into active students. Other activities include discussion, simulations, case studies, and presentations.

• Does the instructor include frequent peer-to-peer interactions in the course?
• Do lectures incorporate active learning activities (e.g., embedded self-check questions for students)?
• Are students actively engaged with group work?

Requirements for participation (e.g., frequency, length, timeliness) are included in the syllabus and/or in the description of the assignment within the module. Students are reminded of online course etiquette expectations and norms for equity and inclusion.

• Does the instructor clearly explain the specific days and times for participation in the discussion (forums)?
• Does the instructor include specific instructions for how students are expected to participate in group activities (e.g., group roles)?

The instructor explains their role regarding participation in the course through the syllabus, welcome video, or related materials. This role is not universal and will vary based on the course content, type of course, Canvas, etc.

• Does the instructor clearly describe in the syllabus how they will engage with students?
• Does the instructor participate in discussion forums (e.g., responds to 1/3rd of posts)?
• Does the instructor provide insightful comments and make connections between students’ points of view?