Reel-in Your Online Stragglers

12 Nov Reel-in Your Online Stragglers

Arturo here with a  tip for all you online instructors. As busy as we all are, it is important to remember how busy our students are as well. In my case, I worked two and sometimes three jobs throughout my college years. It was very easy for me to forget school assignments or run into situations where school had to be on the back burner. I wanted to do well in school but at times during the semester, I couldn’t devote myself fully to my studies. I rarely received a note or any type of communication from my professors regarding my various slip-ups.

Now that I am teaching online, I always have four or five students every semester that just disappear after a few of weeks or so. Normally I will wait a week to see if they reengage. If not, I send them an email reminding them that the class is still in session and I do notice when they are not participating in the learning process. I have had wonderful success reeling them back in.

Of course, one or two are never heard from again. However, I am surprised by how many respond and thank me for caring enough to contact them personally. Many of them, as I suspected, are dealing with a variety of responsibilities that make attending to their studies difficult. Often, they tell me that they feel bad for not participating in their classes and consider dropping the course as an alternative to communicating their situation to instructors. So I urge you not to give up on your stragglers if they fall off the face of the earth for a few days. Send them reminders that you are engaged and present in your online course. They will be very appreciative for the communication.