Before the Course Begins
- Review the Online Student Orientation. It is important that you are aware of what information your students will enter your course knowing.
- Review your syllabus. Is there anything from the student orientation you can omit? Reinforce? Extend? Clarify?
- Review your course. Work through your course as though you were a student. Is everything logically organized and easily accessible? Are the assignments clear?
- Check your announcements. Be sure there is a permanent announcement welcoming the students and detailing how and when to contact you for assistance.
- When your course rosters are provided, send each student an introductory email. Be sure to include information about how they will log in to your course and what initial items you want them to review. Encourage them to check their announcements, emails, and the discussion forums daily.

During the Course
- During the first week, invite students to introduce themselves. Be sure to acknowledge each student by name and send a personal email to reach out to any student who may not be participating.
- Post each week's assignments or topics of discussion in the online classroom on the day prior to the beginning of each class week.
- As the instructor, you should expect to log on and participate a minimum or four times per week.
- Provide substantive feedback for assignments and discussion topics, particularly on the first assignment.
- Respond to students via personal email to answer questions that might not be relevant to the rest of the class, but address issues that might benefit all in the open forum. You should encourage students to respond in the same way.

After the Course Ends
- Provide grades via private email to each student with appropriate feedback within one week of the course end date.
- Online students are accustomed to prompt feedback and many will be awaiting reimbursement or transcripts.

Discussion Board Management
Facilitators can exhibit a tendency to jump into a dialogue to add support or expertise to a post. This changes their role to more of a participant than a guide. By doing this, a facilitator can inadvertently interrupt and potentially stifle the flow of conversation.

Deciding When to Respond
Some posts will be more time-sensitive than others and will require a quick turn around. At other times, it may be best to remain quiet and let the participants take over the conversation. Carefully consider your rationale for intervening and whether it requires you to forfeit your position on the sidelines.

Summarizing
As the guide, you will often need to provide closure or refinement to dialogue. It may be simply to tie up the threads of a dialogue and move on to another topic, or perhaps to extend the conversation or move it in a new direction. When summarizing, post your comment to highlight the most salient contributions of the participants, putting them together to focus on a common theme or the potential for further dialogue (inquiry-based synthesis). When you draw upon participants' comments and observations, reinforce participation and encourage continued effort.

Landscaping
To avoid being the "sole summarizer" and having the final words of a dialogue, include multiple perspectives on the issue discussed and suspend judgment and personal observation. No conclusion is necessary.

Lagging Discussions
Give the group a gentle nudge to remind them of course expectations and a reminder that you are available to help. Reinforce that you will be monitoring participation, but acknowledge commitments and constraints of daily life that may interfere.

Assigning Value to Posts
While the number of entries per thread is important, carefully consider the interaction with other participants' postings.
Does the response build on ideas of others and dig deeper into questions or issues?
Does the response integrate (synthesize) multiple views and show the value of reflection?

Selecting Tone
Consider when each might best be employed . . .
Nurturing
Humorous
Imaginative
Neutral
Curious
Analytical
Informal
Whimsical

Moving Participants to a New Conceptual Level
To build community by contributing to the dialogue as a co-learner rather than an expert , carefully consider the following strategies:

Avoid publicly praising participants - When participants make excellent points or further support the dialogue, it is tempting to make approving statements. However, this has the potential to shut down further dialogue from other participants. Instead, highlight comments that are on track. Select two or three pertinent points from a variety of participants and weave them together. Then, pose a question to shift the focus, which challenges participants to dig deeper.

Draw upon elements that are already in the dialogue to help move it forward - Identify comments already posted in the dialogue that can serve as bridges to the next level of understanding for the group. This helps participants focus not on who "got it right," but on the comments that will assist them in sharpening their focus on the outcome of the discussion. This also encourages risk taking and creates a climate of respect for individual responses, even if they are "wrong."

Highlight tensions in the dialogue - Tensions in comments are opportunities for you to encourage participants to clarify their thought processes, explore underlying assumptions, and deepen the dialogue.