2.1 Quiz: Interaction Options

As long as you use appropriate channels and some record of the interaction is maintained, the vehicle in which you communicate with students is not especially important with regards to RSI.  RSI does not make any prescriptions about the avenues that you use to communicate with students, although it is important that some record of interactions is maintained in the case of an audit and for course evaluation purposes.  There are many options available to you for interacting with students, and while we will make some recommendations, it's important to choose a method of interaction that makes sense for your course.  

Traditional Communication Methods

Email
Many instructors prefer email as their primary method of communication, and we also want to encourage students to check their GHC email and reinforce email usage as an important habit and life skill.  If you are communicating with students via email, be sure to use your GHC email address.  You will likely encounter students who will contact you in Canvas or in other ways, even if you have told students that you only use your email, so please check your Canvas inbox periodically and remind students about your preferred contact methods.  Help our students develop good email habits by reminding them to check their emails regularly within your Canvas course, and if you are sending something important to their email, reach out to them through Canvas to let them know.

Phone/Text
You are welcome, even encouraged, to reach out to students via phone or text message, but if these will be your primary method of interaction, consider how you will document your interactions within Canvas.  Sending an initial message to schedule a call, or a followup message to say, "It was nice speaking with you," or, "Here's a summary of what we discussed," or, "I left you a message," are a few ways to create a digital trail of these communications within official GHC channels.   Be cautioned that with phonecalls, there generally is no record of what was discussed, which can come back to bite you if the student raises a dispute later on.  A written record of your interactions protects you and helps keep communications between teacher and student clear.

Web Conferencing
Traditional web conferencing tools include Zoom, Skype, WebEx, Google Hangouts, Facetime, etc.   As much as you reasonably can, document these clearly within Canvas.  e.g., if you will be hosting Zoom conferences with your students, make sure that these are marked on the calendar and that the links are provided (post them in modules, announcements, and/or the syllabus as appropriate).  It is not necessary that the interaction itself is always available, but that there is some record of interaction with individual students within Canvas.  Alternatively, simply use the Conferences tool within Canvas.

Fax
Just kidding.  Should we include sections for telegraphs, too?  Carrier pigeons?  Smoke signals?!?

Canvas Communication Methods

Speedgrader Comments and Annotations
Comments on assignments are the preferred method of feedback for most courses.  By leaving feedback on a student's work, you can draw attention to specific elements of their past performance that will allow them to improve their future performance.  Speedgrader allows you to leave a comment, record your comments as video/audio, speak your comments to transcribe them to text, attach an additional file, or annotate the submission.  Review How to add Speedgrader Comments and How to add Speedgrader Annotations

While assessment feedback is a vital best practice for educators everywhere, it is not the ONLY way to offer your expert interaction.  If you do not intend to use assessment feedback as your regular interaction for each week, you may find other practices, like synchronous online meetings, discussions, etc. as other practices that you use.  We should all be giving students assessment feedback, but that does not need to be the interaction for every week.

Conversations
Conversations are Canvas' messaging tool, aka "Canvas Mail".  If you need to communicate with an individual or a small group of students about something other than feedback on a particular assignment, this is the recommended tool for the job.  Review How to use Conversations as an instructor

Announcements
Announcements go out to the entire class, and do not generally constitute RSI (but they could!).  Announcements that could be designed well in advance of the course's start would not generally count as a substantive interaction.  However, making an announcement with feedback for how the class did on a whole-class project, or sharing an article on a current event, could constitute an academic interaction.  Review How to add an Announcement in a course

Discussions
While one option for interacting with students, keep in mind that Discussions are primarily designed to support student-to-student interaction (as opposed to teacher-to-student interaction).  Of course there are times where the instructor should contribute to the discussion, but replying to every single student or post can quickly stifle the conversation between students.  A great way to avoid this drawback in a discussion-centered class is to privately comment on student Discussion entries using Speedgrader comments.
Review How to create Discussions as an instructor

Collaborations
Collaborations allow you as the instructor to invite any or all of your students to edit a Google Doc.  Though most commonly used to allow students to collaborate on an assignment, Google Doc has its own commenting and annotation tools which you as the instructor can use to leave feedback to the students.  Review How to create a Google Docs collaboration as an instructor

Conferences
Conferences is Canvas' tool for having video conferences with students within Canvas using a platform called Big Blue Button (i.e., loosely similar to Zoom, Skype, etc.).  Due to the synchronous nature of web conferences, these tools are most often used for optional activities or online office hours, but some instructors utilize required conference times that they plan around student schedules.  While the Conferences tool has the benefit of existing within the Canvas course itself, many instructors prefer using outside conferencing tools such as Zoom and Webex because they find that students encounter fewer errors and the quality of the call is better.  Review How to create a Conference in a course

Chat
If using an outside tool, document it within Canvas just as you would with Web Conferencing.
Review How to use Chat as an instructor

Message Students Who
You can use this option in your Gradebook to send a targeted message to students who haven't submitted their work, or who scored above/below a certain grade.  For the latter reasons, you may even be able to satisfy RSI at times (but use it for that purpose sparingly!)
Review How to "Message Students Who" from the gradebook

When planning your interactions with students, keep in mind that they generally have to log in to Canvas already, so for most students that is the most convenient and intuitive place to receive communications from you.  Students also are accustomed to having instructors who communicate almost exclusively through Canvas.  While other forms of communication have their time and place, be mindful that they may differ significantly from student expectations, so communicate how your course is different very clearly and help students with reminders.

Quiz: Communication Tools in Canvas

Test your knowledge of communication methods that can facilitate interaction with students in this short quiz.

You have two attempts for this quiz.