By Terri J. Matiella, Ph.D.
UTSA 2020-21 Next-Gen Faculty Fellow
Co-Director, Core Curriculum and Assessment for Environmental Science
Senior Lecturer, Department of Environmental Science and Ecology
Students appreciate regular communication from faculty! In a face-to-face class we would usually give some housekeeping reminders at the beginning or end of class – of an upcoming due date, exam, or review session, or clarification on an assignment. In an online course – especially an asynchronous one – we don’t have that same opportunity. Using a weekly announcement can help provide that communication.
Announcements in Blackboard can be posted on the course announcements page and also sent as an email announcement. They can also be written and set up to release on a certain date, so you can add several weeks’ worth! Qwickly can be used to send an announcement to multi-section courses at the same time.
Use weekly announcements to send reminders about due dates, introduce a topic, share a video or current events article of an interesting discovery, or just say you hope they have a good week! It seems like a small thing, but it can make an impact with students!
For More Review:
- 5 Research-Backed Tips to Improve Your Online Teaching Presence
- How Important Is Instructor Presence in an Online Course?
- Instructor Presence
- How to Send Announcements to all sections via Qwickly
- Richardson, J., Besser, E., Koehler, A., Lim, J. & Strait, M. (2016). Instructors’ Perceptions of Instructor Presence in Online Learning Environments. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17 (4), 82–104.
- Sheridan, K., & Kelly, M. A. (2010). The indicators of instructor presence that are important to students in online courses. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(4), 767.
- Best Practices for Teaching Online
- Teaching Resources