Time Saving Tips
Some time-saving communication suggestions
- When students post their first introductions or icebreaker messages, print them out or store them where you can easily refer back to them without sifting through forum threads. You can use this information to personalize your private messages to them.
- Create form letters that you can personalize by adding their name.
- It's common for several students to ask you the same questions. Save your responses to these questions so you can copy and paste rather than rewriting the same responses over and over again.
- You can keep track of the messages and reminders you send out to your students by creating a chart. List your students and then make columns for individual, small group, and large group communications. Individual messages can be sent as feedback on an assignment, email, or a response to a message on a discussion forum. For messages you want to send to everyone, it's best to use the public discussion forums or make an Announcement on your main course page. Y
- Some instructors like to use Twitter for sending out short reminders and last-minute announcements. Students can opt to receive these via text message on their cell phones, which can be more immediate than waiting for them to check their computers. Also using text messaging software, you can send text messages to students instead of using e-mail. Example of text messaging software is Remind101. Build for teachers. Check out their website. https://dashboard.remind101.com/users/sign_in
Breaking free from email and text
Sometimes the spoken word or immediate interaction will work better for you and a student than email. Some useful techniques:
- Virtual office hours in chat room (Activity found in Moodle)
- Online phone calls (Skype)
- Short audio clips that explain feedback on students' assignments (this is more convenient for longer papers)