Welcome to March 2022! Can you believe the spring semester is halfway over (or close)?
Now is an excellent time to evaluate whether students are on track to succeed in your course. Use Blackboard’s “Best Practices”, summarized below, to identify issues and provide an effective framework for success.
Keep Students On Track Students need to be extremely organized even though “coming to class” has built-in flexibility for online courses. These tips provide a framework to prioritize responsibilities.
Use Blackboard’s built-in tools. Include due dates for graded course items and encourage students to check their courses, calendars, and grades often.
Set expectations to log in regularly. Tell students to log in a minimum number of times per week. Ask them to review all course activities due that week. Remind them to ask questions early on so that they can still complete the work on time.
Keep you in the loop. Ask students to contact you as soon as possible to discuss options if they fall behind.
Plan For The Unplanned All students experience personal problems at some point. Include advice in your syllabus, such as what to do when unusual circumstances arise.
Communicate. Students have personal emergencies. They should contact you as soon as possible.
Get help. Colleges provide a variety of student services, such as counseling, academic advising, and disability services. Post links to these resources and encourage your students to use them.
Create a cushion. Encourage students to plan ahead and leave a cushion of time so that they can complete the weekly coursework even if emergencies arise.
Time management is key. Ask students to manage their time and prioritize tasks effectively so they don’t leave academic work to the last minute.
Work Your Coursework Into Your Life
Help students achieve a balance between school, work, and life.
Goal setting. Help students develop long-term and short-term academic goals. Encourage them to be realistic in planning the time it will take to meet their goals while handling other responsibilities.
IIntegrate personal and course calendars. Ask students to develop a prioritized to do list and a calendar for all events. Then, they can see the “big picture” of all of their academic due dates mixed in with their family and work responsibilities
