Teaching Ideas
7 Principles of Good Practice
Good Practice Encourages Contact Between Students and Faculty
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Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students' intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.
Technology Enhanced Support for the Practice
Telecommunications tools such as email, discussion boards, and virtual chat enable faculty and students to communicate synchronously and asynchronously. Course Web sites via Online@UT provide faculty with multiple ways to keep students up-to-date on course happenings.
Improving Instructor-Student Interaction through Email
Improving Instructor-Student Interaction through Email
Email is a powerful communication tool that can allow for better interaction between
students and instructors. Used inappropriately, however, it can be more of a hindrance
than a help. Email's ease-of-use can lead students to be informal, making it much harder
for you to understand their messages, so make sure you establish rules for the use of
email in class.
Here are some tips you can give your students to encourage good email practice:
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Don't use slang and other terms that you wouldn't use if you were talking to your instructor on the
phone or in person.
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Don't be cryptic. Always include a meaningful subject line. Any email relating to class should include
your full name and the class section number.
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Be a responsible email user. If you use multiple email addresses, pick one to dedicate to classwork.
This should prevent confusion on your part so that you don't have to check three or four accounts when
you are waiting for an important response.
From Fall 2003 ITC Topics
Extending Communications: Reaching Students Before and After the Semester
There are a number of compelling reasons, at all levels of the university, for enhancing our ability to
communicate with students before a semester begins or after the formal course of instruction has ended.
Examination of stated reasons for desiring extended communications reveals some common themes.
Themes for pre-course communications
Pre-course assessments
Use pre-course assessments to conduct a pre-semester assessment of student skills or experience or a
body of knowledge review for courses with prerequisites. Accessible online surveys or email minimize
the obstacles of time and place while accomplishing these goals.
Orienting functions
A well designed Web site that can provide detailed information, maps, contact information, or other
appropriate resource materials will help orient students to a department, degree program, or
individual course.
Community building functions
The number and quality of student 'connections' may play an important role in student persistence,
retention and progression toward a degree. The Online@UT system (http://online.utk.edu/) provides
a flexible, convenient, accessible means for organizations to provide information and communications
capabilities to students.
Themes for post-course communications
Tracking functions
Post-course communication can help track students' progression to a major or toward a degree.
Current methods include mailing out grade summaries, providing for academic advising, and providing
transcripts. Making this information available online encourages students to be more proactive in
their academic planning, and may reduce advising demands on faculty and staff.
The mentoring function
Mentoring often receives insufficient attention due to the time intensive nature of the work. Using
current technologies, it should be possible for us to develop and implement online mentoring programs
that effectively distribute the mentoring load among faculty, staff and student mentors.
Networking/professional development
Ongoing communication provides opportunities for developing mentoring relationships between
practicing professionals and students still in the program, facilitates internship opportunities,
and aids in soliciting feedback to improve the quality and effectiveness of courses and programs.
Email, online surveys, and Web sites offer a wide range of options for achieving these goals.
From
Spring 2004 ITC Topics
The Practice in Action
Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
From the simple word processor, Dr. Euridice Silva-Filho leaped into the realm of email and
the Internet. He began to communicate with students outside the classroom in a way that
actually saved paper and kept him in constant touch with students. When a culturally engaging
activity was approaching, he could remind efficiently. Next, of course, he began to require
students to communicate with him via email in the target language, Portuguese.
Communication across cultures and countries was the next step. At a 1997 conference he met
a colleague from Brazil who taught English as a second language there. They collaborated to
put students in touch with each other. Euridice's students wrote to their Brazilian peers
in Portuguese and the Brazilian students practiced their English skills on the American students.
From From VCR to Web: A Technology Journey; 2002 Spotlight on Euridice Silva-Filho, Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
