Communicating online

In online teaching it is important to keep in touch with your students. You will want to give students regular updates so they know the course requirements and what is expected of them, as well as to be available to provide support and answer academic queries. In addition, you will want to ensure that you have a presence in your course, both personally and as an educator, to help foster a connection with your learners and build their confidence and engagement.

There are many ways in which you can keep in touch with your students online. This can occur using methods such as:

• Online tutorials via Blackboard Collaborate or Zoom,
• Course email announcements,
• Participation and feedback on online activities such as discussions, wikis or online bulletin boards.

Effective online communication helps ensure that you have a clear and supportive presence throughout your units. Educator presence is one of the most critical factors for ensuring students' engagement and success in online courses (e.g. Easton, 2003; Kennette and Redd, 2015).

Clear and effective online communications are also important as they facilitate dissemination of course information and feedback. Students value approaches that help make the course requirements clear and do so in a timely fashion (Sheridan and Kelly, 2010).

This resource aims to provide guidance on effective online communication, and throughout utilises examples from the approach to student communications utilised by the PGCert Medical and Health Education teaching team.