This presentation will discuss an ongoing project to focus student communication in the online setting. The focus will be on using appropriate tools and creating clear pathways for communication. In addition, we will discuss the challenges with tone and behavior in online communications and the initiatives to improve communications.
This educational session will focus on the difficulty of clear and consistent communication online and strategies to address this problem. The start of the presentation will focus on the logistics of communication. Confusion with who to contact and through what means can become problematic for both students and faculty. We will then discuss our strategies to streamline this communication. The audience will be engaged throughout this section to determine what ways students have to communicate in their online programs as well as strategies they are using to address the communication issues. The second piece of the presentation will focus on the content of the communication. With written communication it is hard to determine tone and expression. As this is the primary type of communication between students and faculty, misunderstanding of tone, respect, and intent can easily arise. We will discuss our own experiences with this and engage the audience to determine what challenges they are experience. Together we will explore solutions.