Teaching Improvements steps taken to improve teaching, either through the improvement of individual courses or in general through activities to enhance teaching skills or background knowledge.

Since quality communication is paramount in the online classroom (as well as the onground classroom) I have put a lot of focus in improving communication with students.  Student confusion and sense of being abandoned is very common if the instructor is not making their presence known. I believe it is also important to make myself available outside of the class as well.  Here are some ways I've tried to improve my student satisfaction and student success through improved communication (and my availability).  

•  Descriptions of instructional innovations attempted and evaluations of their effectiveness.

Online students: I tried midterm and final phone critiques with students.  Overall students were pleased but it became impractical terms of time and scheduling. 

•  Descriptions of non-traditional teaching settings, such as work with laboratory assistants, special help sessions; work with students during office hours, out of classroom contact of all kinds with students.

• Special help sessions with students in the form of:

  E-mailing - offered for all students every class online and onground.

  Instant Messaging - offered for all students every class online and onground.

  Voice Messaging - offered for all students every class online and onground.

  Phone conferences - offered for all students every class online and onground.

• For my online students I have added a Questions thread for each week and a weekly Announcement threads to all my classes. This allows me to add a lot of extra content to the classes and keep it very up to date.  I also encourage students to contribute to the Problems and Solutions thread as a forum for student to student help, and have found it very successful. This is another layer of communication my students have been very positive about.
  
  
• For my onground students I have begun regularly employing personal help sessions in which I review required projects, update students on how they are doing in the class and counsel them on their overall performance as a student and their future career goals. I also discuss how (for the non-art major) art relates to the student's future career as well as make them aware of how they are actually dealing with art every day.