Students are exposed to multiple Quercus courses each semester - and each one is unique! Spending time articulating how your course works and why you have structured things in a certain way can help students navigate more easily while providing them with more insight into how you see your course. When building, consider how a student will move through your course and include supports that anticipate possible challenges (e.g. check lists of tasks to complete, weekly to dos, estimated time for completion, etc.).
See CTSI's full guide to supporting orientation and navigation.
Take a student-centred and supportive approach
- Setting the tone is important, just as it is on the first day of a face-to-face course.
- Students look to you to provide direction, feedback and encouragement as you guide them on their course journey.
- As an instructor, you can provide guidance to students regarding expectations related to equity, diversity, and inclusion. (PDF)
- Include an FAQ page or discussion forum for general questions.
- Consider a video (or live session) that is dedicated to walking students through the course syllabus and structure (this mimics what you might do during the first session of your in-person course).
Ensure navigation and structure are clear
- Your Quercus home page can provide an effective base for the overall organization of your course (you might still consider creating a course tour video to introduce students to how your course is organized).
- Students will appreciate provision of multiple access points or repetition of key information.
Looking for more guidance on online/remote course "netiquette"? (That's online etiquette). Check out the Golden Rules for online courses (also an example of how you could build and style your course on Quercus).