Introduction and Benefits of being a Mentor
Welcome to the resource page for online teaching assistants (also known as mentors). This page is intended to provide helpful information to both new and experienced mentors.
Teaching online is a highly rewarding experience that incorporates many of the valuable pedagogical ideas that we bring to the face-to-face classroom. As online education continues to grow, so too do the benefits associated with serving as a mentor. The skills and professional development that you attain as a mentor will serve you well in a variety of professions, and they will undoubtedly enhance your teaching portfolio if academia is indeed your chosen career path.
At the same time, the online class presents unique challenges for mentors, lead instructors, and students alike. This page will present you with the dynamics of the online classroom in order to better prepare you for your role as an online TA.
Responsibilities
As a mentor, you may be given some, or all, of the following responsibilities:
* Regularly emailing announcements or reminders to students
* Creating online student learning groups
* Hosting virtual office hours
* Assisting students with minor technical difficulties in Blackboard
* Moderating online discussions
* Grading student work and posting grades to the course’s online gradebook in Blackboard
* Keeping up with course reading assignments
* Monitoring and responding to students’ e-mails
* Leading a virtual class
* Leading Blackboard Collaborate sessions (i.e. for exam reviews, creative project feedback, office hours, etc.)
* Helping to clarify course content for students
* Monitoring student progress
* Sending regular announcements to students about program-related events on campus, internship opportunities, and information about what program graduates should know based on credible sources in the field
Collaboration with Lead Instructors
It is strongly recommended that you meet with your lead instructor well before the semester begins to ensure that you know what is expected of you and to make certain that you are comfortable with the corresponding Blackboard tools. Your lead instructor will likely have you sign a mentor/lead instructor contract that breaks down the responsibilities that you will be given during the semester. Your lead instructor can also
provide you with a timeline of exams / assignments and the corresponding grading that you will be assigned. Knowing this schedule early on can help you to avoid bottlenecks with your own graduate coursework. Similarly, being familiar with the course schedule will also allow you to create a plan for sending reminders or prompts to students prior to key due dates. Read the syllabus carefully and get to know course policies so that you are able to explain course objectives to students. Also, familiarize yourself with the grading rubrics provided by the lead instructor.
Interaction with Students
Teaching online is all about communication! Before the semester begins, send an email to your students in which you introduce yourself, explain your role, your virtual office hours (if required by your lead instructor) and discuss how you will be able to help your students throughout the semester. It is important that students understand your role early on and how it is different than that of the lead instructor. For a guideline of the differentiation of these roles, please review this useful document from FSU’s Office of Distance Learning: https://odl.fsu.edu/sites/g/files/upcbnu2391/files/media/PDFs/faculty_mentor_roles.pdf
After your initial explanation of roles to your students, be sure to remind them mid-semester of the different mentor vs. lead instructor responsibilities.
Check and respond to student emails within 24-48 hours. Let your students know if you will be unable to answer emails promptly due to travel or illness. Make sure to always write them from your FSU email address and to require that they check their FSU email regularly and use it when corresponding with you.
Since online classes do not have regular face-to-face meetings, there are no in-person reminders about upcoming assignments, assessments, and other aspects of the course calendar. To counter this problem—and to also build your presence in the online community—it is a good idea to send weekly emails or announcements to students in which you check-in, remind them of what will be due for the upcoming week, and inform them of any interesting course-related events/readings.
Tips for being an Outstanding Mentor
* Give encouragement to students and feedback about how they are doing on specific assignments and/or exams.
* Provide study guidelines for individual students who express a need for extra help. You can even tailor these guides or tips to the student’s particular difficulties.
* Practice patience with students who are not used to the environment of online courses. It helpful to assume that about 10% of the class will always have difficulty with the online logistics, without face-to-face communication. As a result, try to be very patient with students who struggle for one reason or another.
* Give students a weekly checklist with all tasks, quizzes, etc., for the week.
* Create and post a grade calculation worksheet so they could calculate their grade manually as a back-up to the online grade book.
* Keep things simple, since there is no opportunity to engage in dialogue with the students as a class (only individually). The simpler the logistics and procedures, the easier it will be for students to navigate the course, especially at the start.
* Keep electronic records/folders of all communication with students (i.e. email contacts and discussion boards).
* Take advantage of a free, self-paced online mentor training course for which you will receive a certificate of completion. This course, as well as other related workshops, is offered through FSU’s Office of Distance Learning. More information can be found at: https://distance.fsu.edu/administrators/training-opportunities
* Enroll in an online course yourself in order to experience online learning firsthand from the student perspective.
* Be in regular communication with the Blackboard staff to handle various problems and issues.
Blackboard Information
* Blackboard User Support hours are 8am to 5pm (weekdays) excluding FSU Holidays. Information regarding extended hours will be posted on the main page of campus.fsu.edu and under the Support Tab. You have three ways to contact the Bb help desk:
* Call 850-644-8004
* Email help@campus.fsu.edu
* Submit a help ticket To submit a ticket, visit the following site: https://support.campus.fsu.edu/new. On your ticket, write a clear description of your problem and include all of the required information (e.g. category of the ticket, role in the course, full name, and email) in order to expedite your request for assistance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does effective grading in the online classroom look like?
* Timeliness and detailed feedback are essential components of effective grading in the online classroom.
* Make sure to get the grading deadlines and schedules from your lead instructor early on so as to avid bottlenecks with your own graduate coursework and extracurricular responsibilities. In your weekly messages to students, inform them of when any new graded work will be ready.
* When grading, be as specific as possible in the feedback that you offer. Suggest particular ways to improve or highlight concrete areas in which a student is excelling. Offer study tips and encouragement as often as possible.
* Monitor students’ grades for signs of problems and check in with them when such problems occur. It is also very important that you contact students who are not participating adequately in the course. Speak with your lead instructor if this develops into an ongoing situation for a student.
How do I connect with students and build community in an online course?
* One challenge of the virtual classroom is connecting with students who you will likely never meet. Mentors, and even lead instructors, run the risk of being anonymous, phantasmal presences. In order to overcome this disconnect, try the following: send an introductory email at the start of the semester in which you tell the students about yourself and explain how you will be able to help them throughout the semester; send weekly announcements (about assignments due, new graded work, campus events, etc.) to ensure that you are regularly checking in; give detailed feedback on assignments; lead a Blackboard Collaborate video session for exam reviews or virtual office hours; through your grading feedback and checking in, show that you have a stake in your students’ success and that you care about helping to achieve the course’s intended student learning outcomes.
How can I best utilize discussion boards (and Blackboard in general)?
* Familiarize yourself with Blackboard as much and as soon as possible. A useful tutorial can be found here: https://support.campus.fsu.edu/home
* There is a feature in Blackboard (under the viewing thread option in the discussion board) that only allows students to view other students’ discussion posts after they have posted something themselves. This is a good feature to activate in order to level the playing field for discussion posts and to promote originality and critical thinking.
* Lead a Blackboard Collaborate video session for exam/project reviews or virtual office hours.
How can I best assess the current state of my online learning community?
* Ask yourself the following questions and make any necessary adjustments: Is there a high level of student participation beyond the level that is required? Are student discussion postings of high quality, reflecting mastery of the material, or are they uneven in quality, indicating that you have students who are having difficulty grasping the concepts or expressing themselves?
What rules of netiquette should I practice?
* Recommended netiquette protocols include: signing your email messages with your full name; avoid using all caps; use spell check; make messages clear and succinct; do not assume that recipients will know the intended tone of your message; ask yourself whether you would be comfortable if someone other than the intended receiver were to read your message; maintain professionalism by steering clear of using emoticons; report any inappropriate communication to your lead instructor.
For more information and any questions related to School of Communication mentors, please contact Dr. Toby Graves at tlgraves@fsu.edu or (850) 644-8773.