Penn State Learning Design Community Hub

Students and faculty technical
skills may be uneven.

Instriuctor should practice the necessary skills before the course begins and provide simple technical how-tos for students.

Students have different
characteristics, such as geographical isolation, adult learners,
etc.

Accommodate these characteristics
by providing asynchronous discussions and feedback, more guidance,
etc.

Students may not feel comfortable
with never meeting face-to-face.

Provide some start-up activities
to allow students to communicate with each other and get used to the online environment.

Faculty can't see when the
students are puzzled, bored, or not feeling involved.

Actively solicit feedback on how students are
doing through e-mail, discussion, online "five minute essays," surveys etc.

Use more frequent assignments to assess how students have learned the content and provide frequent feedback on progress to students.

Students may feel there
is too much information in message boards or chat room.

Have guidelines for length,
number and quality of contributions.

Students may expect immediate
response to email/questions.

Set specific times when
questions will be answered—once per day, every other day at
a certain time, etc.

It's difficult to monitor final exams for cheating

Think about using a secure testing facility or converting high-stakes exams to projects, a series of smaller quizzes or other form of assignment.