Expect the Unexpected

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Don't be afraid to move due dates around because life happens. Just be sure to alert students about changes in due dates as soon as possible.

If you won’t be able to log into the course for more than four business days, the instructor is asked to give one week's notice to the students. In emergency cases, instructors should try to notify students as soon as possible if they need to be away from the course and when they will be back.

Carefully consider the cycle of course activities in relation to the length and duration of the required student activities, a.k.a. homework, so that the pace is comfortable and doable for both learner and instructor.

The key is communication. 

Special care is called for when crafting feedback to a student. The subtleties of humor, for example, or the use of colloquialisms can challenge the receiver to interpret the correct meaning of the instructor’s message. Simple, clear and direct (tactful and polite of course) responses will be of more help to the learner than witty sayings or sarcastic comments that may work in a face-to-face exchange but do not translate well to the online environment. 

Avoid back and forth email debates about grades. Having a clear policies in your syllabus using rubrics for grading will go a long way to avoid confusion.

The rules of netiquette are included in the Canvas course template.

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