Pre-Semester Checklist | Faculty Center

Establish Your Learning Relationship Early

This guide to Communicating with Students: Guidance and Templates is a good starting point.

Useful Tip #1: Communicate Early

Email students prior to the first class to establish your learning relationship and set expectations. Some students have questions about when the class will begin, when the online resources (i.e. Cougar Course page) will be available, and if they have to do anything before the first class. A first communication should include:

General welcoming message
Confirmation of meeting time and modality of the class (i.e. day/time for meeting, classroom location)
When the Cougar Course shell for the class will be active for student use
Anything special you expect students to do to come prepared for the first-class session
Any special considerations about the availability or acquisition of course materials
If you are contacting students on the waitlist, provide guidance about how you manage your waitlists (i.e. if you over-enroll your classes or not, how you contact students as seats become available, do you expect waitlisters to attend class session during drop/add, etc.)

While a pre-class email is strongly recommended, please understand that not all students may have seen it before the first-class session. Please make sure your first-class session will still be an accessible learning experience for students who have not read your pre-semester email outreach. You may need to clarify at the first in-person session your expectations for when and how often students check their campus email for your class.

Establish Class Communication Expectations

It is important to establish communication protocols early in your class. Use this checklist of questions to consider how you will communicate with students, and how they should communicate with you. Do not assume all students will have the same understandings and assumptions about email or messaging protocols (including formality, how and when to use it, and reasonable response time).

What primary method of communication do you intend to use with students (email, Cougar Course messages, Teams message, etc)?
What applications or sources (such as Cougar Courses) are students expected to check and how often? Do not assume students know to check their campus email at all, let alone with a certain frequency.
What alternate methods can students use to contact you? While you do not want to overwhelm students with options, it is recommended that you have multiple ways students can contact you. Campus email, Cougar Course messaging, campus phone extensions, virtual office hours on Zoom or Teams, or drop-in in-person office hours are all methods to consider. We do not recommend you provide your personal phone number for students to contact you.
How long after a student sends you a message should they expect a reply?
How long after that should a student contact you if they do not receive a reply?
Have you modeled how students should contact you if they do not receive a reply? Think about helping socialize them into writing a polite follow up inquiry as they may need to in their future careers.
How often will you be making announcements/communicating with the entire class?
Have you communicated/modeled how students should correspond with you? This can include basic etiquette or encouraging them to look for information such as due dates etc. in a specific location before asking.

Have you communicated why students should reach out and your willingness to help? Oftentimes we assume students know why they should reach out to faculty. However, we have a number of first-generation students and others with non-traditional educational experiences. It can be helpful to encourage them to reach out for help or tell them when they can reach out for guidance. For example, tell them they do not have to wait until they are lost, or they can contact you to ask questions about concepts they understand but would like to expand their knowledge

Transparency and Student-Centered Thinking

Examine the assumptions you hold about what you think students in your classroom know, especially about academic settings, culture, and disciplines. Students have different educational journeys and experiences, and students who have been impacted by COVID during their schooling have experienced unusual shifts in classroom format and disruptions to their learning more so than prior generations of college students. The following list of reflective questions will help you consider what you will want to make clear through transparent communication to your students:

What do you expect students to do in order to come to class prepared? Do you expect them to have done reading before class? Explain how the schedule of activities in your syllabus details what they should be doing when.
What are your expectations about class participation, and how do you define it for your class? If you expect all students to take an active role in class discussion, say this and define what “active” looks like for you. Consider that some students may need practice with large class interactions in-person (particularly if they have become accustomed to the more isolated experiences of online learning). Consider ways you can have them model and gain some experience in smaller group settings when possible.
How comfortable are your students with engaging in critical conversation and academic debate? Do your students know how to engage in conversation around topics that they disagree with or have limited knowledge of? What will you do to set class norms for how to engage in reflection and discussion of topics that are sensitive?
Do students know how to use your office hours? Do they know how to make time to speak to you if they are not able to attend your pre-set office hours? Making sure students know office hours are for them is important—some colleagues have renamed them “Student Drop-in Hours” to improve transparency for students.
Do you make sure to explain all academic jargon in class materials and class? Even students who may know a specialized term in your field can benefit from the reinforcement of a short definition reminder.

Resources: The Dean of Students Civility Campaign Programming can help students gain skills in how to participate in difficult conversations

Effectively Talking to Online Students Guide

Set clear and attainable expectations for student success

Take time to explain how your course is designed to meet your learning outcomes:

While the campus syllabus policy requires faculty to use the official program learning outcomes for a major and/or general education area, reflect on whether such Programmatic Student Learning Outcomes use student centered language, or if they are mostly intended for an audience of fellow faculty who engage in assessment work. Do you need to provide your own gloss of these for a student audience? For your own Course Student Learning Outcomes focus on phrasing that avoids in-field jargon and assumes a student audience.

Explain how your course assignments and activities support meeting the learning goals of the class. Student complaints about “busy work” can sometimes be a signal that they do not see the role that work plays in the overall learning goals for a class.

Do your students know how to find information about assignments and/or exams or other graded assessments for your class? Do they know how and where to ask questions about upcoming assignments?

Consider explaining the campus credit hour policy to help students understand your expectations about coming to class prepared and completing assignments.

Useful Tip # 1:

Create a video that walks students through not only where to find assignments, but also tells them what techniques you would use to succeed if you were a student in your own class. You can remind them that while this is not the only way to succeed, seeing your suggestions will help them focus on a relatable strategy. Additionally, it will also subtly tell them what elements of your course are important for success (e.g. focusing on keywords in the text).

Useful tip # 2:

In addition to providing support and resources, take the time to teach them about and promote a growth mindset so they see struggle as natural. This will help build resilience and help-seeking behavior and make it more likely that students utilize resources such as office hours or campus learning centers. See details via this video to introduce the topic and classroom activities

Review your course with an equity-minded lens

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is an important part of CSUSM’s values and strategic plan.

Some factors to consider:

What barriers to student achievement do your course policies present? (i.e. are your policies about late work too inflexible?) How can you balance a need for structure in the learning environment with appropriate flexibility?

How can you demystify college and classroom cultures so that all students have an entry point for contributing and engaging in the learning process?

What steps do you specifically take to ensure students feel welcome and have a sense of belonging in the classroom and/or larger campus community?

How do you help connect students with support resources whether they need academic support resources (i.e. Learning and Tutoring Centers) or non-academic support resources (i.e. Cougar Care Network).

Avoid generalized assumptions about students' technological knowledge and access to technology. Consider providing reminders about how they can get technology assistance through IITS when relevant.

Resources:

Northeastern Illinois University’s Center for Teaching and Learning Guide to Equity-Minded Inclusive Practices

Ensure accessibility for all students and accommodate student needs

There are three aspects of accessibility that are key:

accessibility for students with physical impairments that may create challenges for reading/seeing/hearing digital files and content,
accessibility for students with psychological and/or learning differences that require certain accommodations such as extra time to process materials or additional exam time,
and accessibility for students with limited access to computers or stable internet service (particularly a concern for online classes, or classes that have students engaging in robust digital activities for assignments).

Taking the following steps will ensure an accessible learning environment:

Ensure that there is an alternative format available i.e., transcript for audio or closed captioning on all media provided for class. Use the Ally tool on Canvas to make sure your class materials are accessible and contact ally@csusm.edu if you need help with converting your materials for accessibility.
Provide approved accommodations for students who present accommodation letters from the Disability Support Services office
Confirm that content is mobile-friendly
Consider variation in students’ access to computers and stable internet service

Useful tip: At the start of the semester students will send you their paperwork from DSS. While we are busy, it is helpful to students to send a quick note that acknowledges you have received the paperwork. Additionally, you may consider including discussions of how their accommodations will be implemented into the course. Be empathetic that these concerns can cause anxiety for students, so even reassuring them that you will work out the details two weeks before the exam will reassure them that they will not have to scramble.

Resources for creating an accessible digital classroom environment:

Canvas

Our campus has adopted Canvas by Instructure as our Learning Management System (LMS).

If you are still adjusting to Canvas since the transition from Moodle (the LMS at CSUSM prior to Fall 2022), we recommend looking at the equivalencies page to see what used to work in Moodle and verify if it works or does not work in Canvas.

Confusion about Syllabus feature in Canvas

The syllabus tool is a function in Canvas that allows students to see your syllabus and a list of assignments in the course in one easy to view location. You can see how it works on the Canvas Syllabus help guide. If you do not want to use this feature, you can hide the Syllabus tool by clicking on the Settings link in the bottom left navigation -> click the Navigation tab -> right click on the 3 dots next to syllabus -> choose disable -> click the Save button at the bottom of the page. You can see screenshots of this on the Canvas Navigation help guide.

Canvas pointers

Below are a few pointers that you may find helpful:

10 Steps to Getting your Course Ready

Keep it Simple

Additional Canvas reminders:

Notifications for announcements are not copied to the instructor without them turning on notifications. To turn on notifications to receive copies of announcements sent to students, follow the Canvas notifications guide.
We have a growing list of FAQs.

Classroom Technology

Make sure you give yourself time to familiarize yourself with logging into the instructor station and how to utilize the screen and projector features.

Each classroom has a phone on the wall to contact Classroom Technology Support should you encounter a problem with your technology before or during class. The number to call is posted by each phone (760-750-8651).

You can also make an appointment with IITS if you want one-on-one training on the tools installed in your classroom spaces.

Set boundaries to protect your time and mental health

Faculty are central to helping students succeed but we are only effective in the classroom if we can maintain our own health and well-being. Being student-centered and student-committed need not come at the cost of your own well-being. Setting boundaries to protect your time is not only essential for your own mental health, but gives your students a clear and predictable framework for getting assistance and support.

Some recommendations for boundary setting in the classroom include:

Syllabus Questions:

Dedicated time to discuss the syllabus at varying points during the course, and dedicated time during the first class session to review assignments and answer questions.
When students ask to meet about assignments on the syllabus, ask them to identify the section and page of the syllabus. This ensures they have read it and provides a record to remind you to make changes, if necessary.

Making Office Hours Effective:

Set time increments for office hours so that students are coming prepared with questions and share this information with students. 20-minute blocks should be ample time to discuss any issues about assignments, grades, or questions about the content, and allows for you to share your time with all students.

Managing Classroom Activity Flow:

Start class with 5-minute recap of the last session.
Build in time after a break to recap the first part of the class. Pedagogical tip: ask a student to provide a short recap as a way to check in and see how they are processing the classroom material!
Create a “parking lot” in the Cougar Courses space of the class for students to post questions or topics they want to cover. These can be things that come up in the lecture, or questions about assignments. This allows you to address questions to several students at a time.
Build in question/answer breaks during class meetings to check in with students. It’s okay to tell students who ask questions very specific to their individual performance in your class to set up an office-hours appointment to address matters that will not serve the larger class community.

Classroom Absences

If you are unable to teach your class as scheduled due to personal illness or unexpected emergency, please contact your department AC and department chair immediately and complete the “Absence from Class” form. Ask your AC for help with accessing the “Absence from Class” form if you do not already know how to find it for your department or college.

Be sure to contact your students as soon as possible with details about the alternative arrangements. Depending on the nature of an unexpected emergency, your AC may be able to send a message to your students on your behalf (i.e. if you have limited access to internet or technology due to a travel delay, etc.). While illnesses and emergencies are inevitable, communicating with your department and students as soon as possible is key to minimize learning disruptions.

If your absence from the classroom will be longer than a week, you may need to work with your department chair and college deans to figure out longer term coverage needs for your students.

Resources from Dean of Students

Faculty Resources

Other Reminders

Please do not change the format of your course from the one listed in the schedule of classes. Course formats are published in the schedule of classes so students can make an informed decision about their graduation needs.

Information about major assignments should ideally be posted at the beginning of the course with due dates. Students should be given at least several weeks’ notice so they can accurately plan their time. It is difficult for students to follow faculty’s instructions to “stay organized” when assignments aren’t posted with enough lead time.

Be clear with instructions. Remember students are taking several courses that may be organized and presented differently. Therefore, it is important to explain expectations and assignments in a clear, concise, and consistent manner.

Use Cougar Courses as the central hub for your class.
Consult the Faculty Center's Faculty Handbook for general information