Close to 30 years ago, I designed the first SUNY Learning Network online course template.We called it a “template” because, as I explained to new online faculty at the time, calling it “Fred,” just didn’t have enough contextual detail to make sense. 🙂
Online learners consistently point to a recurring theme in successful learning experiences … clearly understanding an instructor’s expectations improves their performance. Clarity of expectations in online teaching is a universal best practice in online teaching and learning. We (ID’s and instructors) strive to communicate to students as clearly as possible in regard to instructions, grading policies, course navigation, course resources, etc.