What Is the Instructor’s Role?
In an online environment, “The roles instructors play in facilitating online discussions can include managerial, social, pedagogical, and technical” (Lear, Isernhagen, LaCost, & King, 2009).
As an online instructor, you guide the students throughout the material you have gathered and arranged, rather than serve as the sole source of knowledge. You lead conversations, then let students discuss and teach each other. You facilitate their use of tools, resources, and assignments. You challenge students to think critically together through group work, peer review, projects and more.
Change the way you deliver, not the way you teach.
Matt Libera, LMS Application Administrator
Ensuring the course is working properly is also part of your role. If a portion of the course confuses students or the technology interferes with their learning, you are who they will look to for the resolution of the issue. Campus 6-TECH resources can be a great resource to aid you in finding recommended tools and testing the course setup.
Now that the environment and materials are set up, an online instructor is free to probe more deeply into students’ discussion board responses and evaluate whether assignment submissions appropriately measure mastery. You can also focus on keeping the course current by bringing in recent news articles, research, and new tools.
“High Touch is More Important Than High Tech”
As these professors from EDUCAUSE share in the video below, the value of communication through expectations, feedback, storytelling, and more outweighs technology. Your teaching decisions should drive the tools you use, rather than the reverse. In the video below, they say “high touch is more important than high tech,” meaning that developing a caring social presence and staying connected with students is more effective and valuable than having dazzling technology.
Within the Online Classroom: Focus on the Discussion Board
You set the expectations for the Discussion Board and the due dates for when students should respond. However, you can increase student buy-in by allowing the class to establish rules for itself or share past experiences of discussion boards that worked well or didn’t.
Rather than serving as a lecturer, you moderate and facilitate discussion. You also fulfill a key social function in encouraging students to participate and praising them for insightful answers. Other students will see your response to that student and will adjust their discussion accordingly. You also need to step in if a student has responded to another student in a way that is harmful to their learning. Just as in the classroom, you hold the key to fruitful, positive conversation.
Example
In this example, a student named Kelsey gave a comment on the class discussion board in response to a prompt about a reading. Her comment only touched the surface-level. The instructor asks a follow up question to encourage Kelsey to think more deeply.
Example
In this example, a student named Brandon replied to a fellow classmate named Jasmyn on the class discussion board with offensive language, calling her point “stupid.” Rather than reply on the class discussion board for all to read, the instructor here emails Brandon privately to remind him of appropriate netiquette. Netiquette refers to the rules of online communication, whether in a classroom or other type of website. If you are curious, visit the Resources page for additional articles on netiquette.
Above all, you have your pedagogical role. Ask students follow up questions to challenge them to think more deeply about the conclusions they have made. When a student has made an incorrect assumption, gently guide them to the correct notion and show them why. If a student has made an egregious error, you can either respond to them individually through email, so the rest of the class doesn’t see the corrective measure. If you believe that more may have made the same mistake, you can send an email to the class without mentioning that student by name.
Example
In this example, the instructor reads a post from a student named Gabriel and notes that he misunderstood a key term. Rather than embarrass the student by replying on the discussion board, the instructor chooses to email Gabriel individually and correct his error, giving him the opportunity to also revise his post.
Example
As with the previous example, the instructor notices that several students have misinterpreted a common word. Instead of emailing individuals, the instructor sends a class announcement.
If a student uses inappropriate language or images, you have the ability to remove their post. Set this expectation up front when you discuss with students how you expect them to use the discussion board, and that if they do not comply, their post will be removed. Look into the help tutorials for Canvas or your LMS to find out how to do this if you anticipate it being an issue for your class.
Does it matter if you are involved in the discussion board yourself? You bet it does. “Evidence shows that instructors need to maintain substantial involvement in online courses” (Reuschle & Mitchell 2009, Schrum et al 2005).
Preventing and Responding to Academic Dishonesty
One primary concern many online instructors have is preventing academic dishonesty, or cheating. Promoting academic integrity in face-to-face and online classes requires intention and clear communication of expectations to achieve.
The UNCG Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities defines cheating and other relevant terms. During orientation all students sign a pledge to uphold academic integrity, and you may require students to sign the Academic Pledge on major work submitted. You can insert this statement into the opening text on quizzes or require them to sign the statement on submitted papers, for example.
If you suspect an instance of academic dishonesty, you can use the Academic Integrity Notification Template available from the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities’ website to initiate the Academic Integrity process and schedule a Faculty-Student Joint Conference.
How can we create an online course environment which encourages students to choose to engage in learning instead of academic dishonesty? Here are recommendations.
Communicate expectations clearly.
To emphasize the importance of academic integrity, list the pledge in the Syllabus or other prominent places. Consider creating a brief quiz of academic integrity scenarios specific to your class. For assignments and discussions, ask them to cite their information sources. Consistently require students to sign or acknowledge the pledge on major assignments, perhaps at the beginning and end of an exam. Describe what can and cannot be shared with classmates. State the benefits of adhering to these guidelines and and the consequences for failing to do so.
Talk about why this assessment matters to them.
Illustrate how learning and applying the concepts is more meaningful to them than cheating. What can students expect to gain from an assessment beyond a grade? Explain the intent of assignments and how they will be evaluated through detailed instructions and rubrics.
Show support.
Students are under pressure to cheat if the stakes are high and they feel unprepared. Offer practice opportunities and informing them of tutoring services and office hours. Students who feel supported are less likely to cheat.
Design assessments for maximum learning
To enable students to practice lower-order skills such as identification and recall, create formative assessments that are ungraded or low-stakes and which can be taken repeatedly for a participation score.
Resource
View suggested academic integrity guidelines (PDF, 120KB) for specific assignment types.
Strive to design summative assessments which require creative thought and constructive learning. Consider assessments beyond high-stakes, traditional exams, such as presentations, projects, papers, and simulations, which will allow students to demonstrate a high level of understanding and application. Empower students by giving them a choice of different deliverables to show their understanding. Ask yourself how students can show you what they’ve learned by creating something, explaining their problem-solving process, or reflecting. You may wish to assume that all assessments are open-note, open-book, and open-Internet; knowing that students can access that knowledge, what skills and decisions can be assessed with how they use that knowledge?
Resource
Would you like some inspiration for how to reimagine assessments? Visit the Final Assessment Options page of KeepTeaching.uncg.edu.
Consider proctoring
When possible, plan to use forms of assessment that do not require proctoring. For those assessments such as exams which may benefit from proctoring, testing.uncg.edu offers a description of the proctoring services available at UNC Greensboro. You can use services such as Examity, proctoring through Zoom, and Respondus Lockdown Monitor and Browser to record students as they taken an exam and flag instances of potential cheating. However, be advised that these services can increase students’ level of anxiety, exacerbate inequities, cost students per exam, intrude on privacy, and occasionally flag instances in which students were not cheating.
For more help
The Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities handles all student conduct and academic integrity functions. Students and instructors may report an Academic Integrity Violation on their website or contact them with questions.
Further Reading
- Supiano, B. (October 21, 2020). Students Cheat. How Much Does it Matter? The Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Darby, F. (September 24, 2020). 7 Ways to Assess Students Online and Minimize Cheating. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Barberena, A. (May 4, 2020). How to promote academic integrity in remote learning. International Center for Academic Integrity.
Beyond the Online Classroom
As an instructor, you can play a key role in connecting online students to the university community and to student support services. Find out what student support services your campus offers.
Example
Starfish
Starfish is UNCG’s early alert and student success software that aims to promote clear communication between instructors, advisors, and students, and to make it easier for students to access the people who can support them while at the university. You can log in to starfish.uncg.edu to set up office hour appointments, leave flags to let students know of a concern you have for their performance, give kudos to recognize student accomplishments, and submit referrals to suggest a helpful campus resource that may aid in a student’s academic performance. For example, referrals may currently be issued to the following offices: Academic Achievement Center, Writing Center, the University Speaking Center, the Math Help Center, Career and Professional Development, the Dean of Students Office, the Counseling Center, and International Student & Scholar Services. Read about Starfish capabilities so you can use it for your own students or contact the Students First Office, which manages Starfish.