Maintaining proper communication with the stakeholders of an organization is important in any school, but it is especially crucial for a virtual school. When a teacher communicates with the stakeholders, he or she must always maintain a professional and positive tone. The teacher should avoid any kind of sarcasm in the communications, too, because sarcasm can be difficult for the audience to detect and can easily be misinterpreted.
The teacher should begin a virtual course with a welcome email. The welcome email should maintain a professional yet friendly tone. This email will often be the first impression that the students and parents have to the instructor, and the teacher needs to make himself accessible and trusted. In the welcome email, the teacher should include information such as course expectations, contact information, the course syllabus, descriptions of different types of assignments students will have for the coursework, academic policies, and plagiarism explanations. Some teachers may also opt to include a section in the email to address frequently asked questions. Another option is to include a welcome video of the teacher. The purpose of the welcome video would be to establish a warm and inviting climate for the class.
Toward the beginning of the course, the teacher should contact each student and/or parent individually to introduce himself and answer any questions they may have. Again, the purpose of this communication is to establish a positive tone for future communications regarding the course. With any type of communication with students and parents, teachers should keep thorough, organized records of each contact.
Throughout the course, the teacher must continue to maintain communication with stakeholders, primarily students. This communication can take the form of mass emails to the class or individual emails to the students or parents. There are other tools available for this communication that include social media (Twitter, Facebook groups, blogs), but many instructors prefer email simply for its ease of use and archiving options. A teacher may elect to send out a mass email once a week that includes reminders for upcoming assignments or deadlines, helpful links, or attachments that may be helpful. To individualize instruction, and provide one-on-one communication, a teacher can also communication directly with a student. In this direct communication, a teacher may address areas that a student needs to work on, provide supplemental materials, or link to resources that could provide extra help to the student.
It's important that a teacher document all communication with stakeholders to keep on record. Unfortunately, situations may arise where a teacher will need to prove that expectations were made clear, assignments were provided, etc. In such a situation, having thorough and organized records will be quite valuable.
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