Communicating with your classes is key in the event of a planned absence or a crisis impacting one or more scheduled classes. Identify for students the expectations for reading, completing assignments, due dates, and procedures that will be followed. Frequent communications will go a long way to ease student anxiety.
Keep these principles in mind:
- Communicate Early and Often
Communicating with your class early is paramount. Reiterate your plan, even reference it if it’s documented in the syllabus or someplace else. Try not to bombard them with emails, but consider matching the frequency of your messages with that of changes in activities and/or updates of external factors that affect your classes. - Set Expectations
Inform students how you plan to communicate with them, what mode (email, announcements via LawNET or Blackboard, etc.) you will use, and how often they can expect you to communicate. Be clear about often they should check email and how quickly they can expect your response. If you’re planning to use announcements, you may want to let students know that they should update their notification preferences to receive announcements via email. - Communications Load
You will likely receive individual requests for information where a reply to the entire class may be beneficial. This way, students know they might get a group reply in a day versus a personal reply within an hour. You may also want to consider posting an announcement to the class in Blackboard or LawNET in such circumstances.