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| | Teaching at a Distance |
| | | This section describes the procedures relating to teaching the Independent Learning course you have created, including communicating with students, time limits, recordkeeping, and payroll, and evaluation of courses by students. |
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| | Teaching Your Independent Learning Course |
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After the course study guide is completed and the course is opened for enrollments, you will begin to receive lessons from students. The IDLP office acts as a liaison between you and the student. Students send completed lesson assignments to the IDLP office, where they are logged into the computer and then forwarded to you. If you are teaching or have an office on the Athens campus, lessons will be sent to you through campus mail. When you have evaluated and graded the lessons, you will return them to our office. (A "grade" is not necessarily a letter grade–it can be a numerical score or "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" or "incomplete," etc., but each lesson assignment must have some sort of indication that you have evaluated it.) Then the grades will be recorded on our student record system and the lessons will be returned to the students.
If you teach or have an office off-campus, lessons will be sent twice per week by first class mail. When the first lessons are sent to you, you will also receive instructions for returning them to the IDLP office. |
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| Electronic Communication |
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Fax is becoming increasingly popular as a means for students to submit their lesson assignments, since it reduces mailing times and, in the case of students overseas, it provides far more certain delivery than the mail services. (At the present time, the IDLP office does not provide fax service for returning graded lessons to students.) Occasionally, you may find a missing page or text that is garbled in transmission. In that case, please set the lesson aside and notify either the student or the IDLP office that you are holding a lesson for the remaining material.
E-mail provides another option for communicating with students, and if you are willing to respond to students through that process, we encourage you to list your e-mail address in the introduction to your study guide. However, as with telephone numbers (which should be office, not home, numbers), it is a good idea to suggest some guidelines for students, for example, how often you will respond to their messages (once a day, once a week, etc.). |
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| Housekeeping |
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Lesson Cover Form |
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One of these forms (see sample in the appendix), completed by the student, will be attached to every lesson sent to you. You will be responsible only for completing the block in the lower right corner which asks for the grade, your signature, and the date. After you have entered this information, you may detach the third copy, marked "Faculty," to keep for verification of payroll information. Return the remaining copies along with the lesson. |
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Student Biographical Form |
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The student is instructed to complete the personal information on this form and submit it with the first lesson assignment. The form has been designed to give you some helpful background about each of your students. (Of course, you may request other information from your students individually in addition to what is provided by the form.) On this form also you can keep a record of the lessons submitted and the grades you have assigned. |
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Payroll and Check Dates |
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The IDLP office can supply you with a schedule of dates when the payroll is prepared and when checks are issued. If your regular University paycheck is direct-deposited, your IDLP course development and/or grading stipends will be also. Please be aware that standard deductions are taken from the check you receive for developing the Independent Learning course, and from your periodic grading stipends.
If you have questions about your grading stipends or about students' assignments, please contact the IDLP accounting specialist or office manager. |
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Timeliness |
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A crucial factor in student completion rates in correspondence study courses is the amount of time (we call it "turnaround time") which elapses between the time a student submits a completed assignment and when he or she receives it with evalu- uation and comments. Under normal circumstances, you are allowed two weeks from the time you receive a lesson to grade it and return it to the IDLP office. Although we do not hold you to that time period during times when the University is closed, we do request that you notify us when you expect to be away for more than one week. It is also a courtesy to notify your students–a brief note on one of their assignments is sufficient.
You will receive a lesson delinquency notice from our office whenever you have lessons in your possession for more than two weeks unless you have made prior arrangements. |
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A Final Note |
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We request that you do not handle administrative functions related to Independent Learning courses, such as course transfers and fee refunds. If a student requests you to do so, please refer the request to the IDLP office. |
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| Examination Procedure |
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Students are responsible for obtaining a proctor to supervise their examinations. Qualified persons include faculty of the professorial ranks of regionally accredited colleges and universities, and superintendents and high school principals of regionally accredited school districts. Some students use university testing centers; military personnel may use designated educational officers as proctors. The IDLP office administers any of the course examinations in a supervised situation twice a week. Our office employs a full-time examination clerk who verifies the credentials of each prospective proctor. Examinations are sent directly to the proctor. The student does not see the examination prior to the actual time of taking it. When the examination is completed, the proctor collects and returns it to our office, which forwards it to you for grading. Please make sure that complete directions for taking the examinations are provided, especially concerning the use of textbooks, calculators, dictionaries, etc. |
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| Course Evaluation |
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A
course evaluation form (see sample in the appendix) is sent to students
at the end of their courses. This form is completed and returned unsigned
to the IDLP office. The instructional materials staff reviews the evaluations,
holds them for at least 30 days (to ensure that they will have no effect
on a student’s final grade), then forwards them on to the
instructors.
The in-office review looks primarily for procedural problems noted by students or for a concern which is consistent through many evaluations of the same course (for example, outdated texts or chronic late return of lessons). We note these concerns and try to address them as courses are revised or updated. Normally, a problem like missing pages or incomplete instructions for lesson assignments shows up long before a course evaluation is completed, and we deal with those immediately.
Evaluations are not routinely sent to the academic departments, since
IDLP teaching is not a part of the instructor’s normal course
load. However, if your department considers such teaching in decisions
for tenure or promotion, we will supply copies of course evaluations
on request to be part of your documentation. If an evaluation is
particularly complimentary, we often send a copy to the academic
department chair, especially if you are new to IDLP teaching. Of
course, you are free to share the evaluations with your department
or anyone else once they come to you.
Completing
the evaluation form is voluntary on the part of the student,
so you will not get an evaluation form from every student who
completes a course. Also, students tend to complete the forms
if they feel strongly—positively or negatively—about their Independent Learning experience. Don’t be surprised if your course evaluations fall at opposite ends of opinion—either
they loved it or hated it! Hardly a scientific sample, but
most instructors find course evaluations helpful in refining
either their instructional materials or their teaching interactions. |
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| One to One: Enhancing Your Relationship with the Correspondence Student through Lesson Comments (by John A. Robinson) |
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Correspondence study allows for a unique tutorial relationship between you and the student. Because of the isolation of the distant learner, the nature of your comments on and responses to individual lesson assignments can be the deciding factor in the student's motivation and success. The following guidelines for lesson evaluation have been compiled to help you use your comments for maximum benefit to the student. |
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BE PERSONAL Students need to know they are dealing with a flesh-and-blood human being. Remember that the correspondence student does not have the opportunity for classroom discussion. By using a conversational style in your comments, you can help dispel students' notions that they are dealing with an impersonal institution. |
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BE SPECIFIC Comments such as "good job" and "needs work" don't really tell students anything. Most students thirst to know both what they have done well and where they need to improve. Comment specifically on aspects of the lesson which fulfill or fail to fulfill your expectations. |
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BE PATIENT A classroom student learns in a few days the nature of work the instructor expects. The correspondence student learns in a few lessons. If it doesn't compromise your standards, you might consider using stricter criteria to evaluate the later lessons of the course. You can expect students to know your requirements by the end of the course. |
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BE INSPIRATIONAL A well-placed word from you can spur the student to greater
achievement. Nothing can help dispel "the loneliness of the long distance learner" more than a motivational word from you. And there's nothing better than a little humor. |
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BE PROMPT Research indicates that prompt evaluation and return of student lessons significantly increases the completion rate of correspondence courses. Turnaround time for submitted lessons is a crucial factor in encouraging or discouraging your students' efforts. |
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| Haning Hall - Ohio University - Athens, Ohio 45701 - Tel: 1-800-444-2910 | | | | | |
