Communicating high expectations within your course by models -

Example - defining expectations for the discussion board

In general, posting a single time is insufficient to engage in a discussion. What I expect to see is an evolving dialogue, featuring some exchange back and forth between students. I should be able to read the discussion and it should read much like an actual conversation between several people. Our online discussions will be class discussions, meaning that I expect you to show the same respect we would show each other in an actual classroom. Being respectful doesn't mean that you should agree with all points or that you can't disagree. It simply means you should respect the other point of view in a polite way. I suggest you stay away from excessively short responses like "I agree" and stay away from excessively long responses. As you post, be aware that you are engaging in a discussion. Work to craft your responses succinctly and focused. A good guide is to try to keep the response to a few paragraphs at most.It takes a great deal of work on the part of the student and the instructor to help students realize their potential. How and what you communicate is important to stress the expectations for the course. Don't minimize the impact that motivational statements and statements demonstrating your commitment to helping students understand and become successful will have on the students.