Chapter 3
Announcement/Syllabus Guidelines
Category I: Course Ambience Basic Information Learner Analysis Support
Principle: A welcoming course ambience and basic course information are necessary to "get off on the right foot." Careful analysis of the target student population lays the groundwork for building an effective distance-learning course. Areas worth considering are:
- demographics,
- previous experience and coursework,
- technological skill and access,
- learning preferences, and
- possible special needs.
Baseline Expectation
Indicators: (Do you find the following items on the Blackboard course site?)
- Welcome message in the announcement section (Preferably set to "Permanent")
- Course information
- Syllabus (complete relevance to the course and in UF syllabus template format including but not limited to:
- Catalogue information
- Course ID
- Semester hours
- Prerequisites
- Instructor information
- Course description
- Relationship to conceptual framework
- Specific course objectives/expected learner outcomes
- Course materials (including purchasing information for distance learners)
- Knowledge base
- Instructional strategies
- Methods of assessment
- Grading policy (fitting for the distance learning environment & easy to comprehend)
- Disabilities statement
- Preparation for online learning
- Clear set of instructor expectations for student responses or performance - E.g. All online students must use the UF e-mail system
- Late penalties
- Assignment submission procedures
- Contingencies plan (Describes what the students should do if the university server/network is down.)
- Complete staff information
- Title
- Full name
- E-mail address
- Office location
- Office hours
- Photograph (optional but recommended)