1. A Shared Vision: Faculty Perceptions
of Managing Expectations in the
Online Environment
Sophia J. Stone
Diane D. Chapman
North Carolina State University

2. Managing Expectations
• Expectation: anticipation of something
happening: a confident belief or strong
hope that a particular event will happen
• In the online environment, student/faculty
expectations are challenged and sometimes
difficult to meet…..

3. Challenges
--communication
--instructor-student feedback
--technology
--student support needs
--instructor presence
--personal approach to learning

4. Understanding Expectations
Outcomes:
• fosters reassurance
• builds trust
• a climate of shared understanding between
instructor and student
• enhances student learning satisfaction
• decreases student feelings of isolation and
alienation

5. Purpose
To discover faculty perceptions of the
disconnects between student and instructor
expectations in online courses and the issues
and concerns surrounding this gap
Interviews conducted Spring 2005 as part of
program evaluation of T&D online M.Ed.
Program

6. Interview Questions
• Q1: How should student and instructor
expectations be managed in our online
program?
• Q2: How should instructors in T&D online
courses manage faculty-student interaction?
• Q3: What advice would you give other
instructors in managing student feedback and
communication in T&D online courses?

7. Methodology
• 1 hr semi-structured interview with faculty who
teach in T&D online program
• 5 faculty interviewed
• Data collection: interviews, document analysis

8. Limitations
• faculty perceptions
• sample size and selection
– purposeful sample
– time constraints
• demographic limitations
– class size
– graduate online students only

9. Results of the Interviews: Q1
Q1: How should student and instructor
expectations be managed in our online
program?
Faculty note 4 areas of concern:
– communication (24 hour professor)
– course
– technology
– environmental

10. Results of the Interviews: Q1
• Communication expectations established at
outset (consistent and negotiated)
• Course expectations set during orientation
• Technology (expect glitches, strive for
consistency in usage)
• Environmental (develop unique opportunities for
student interaction)

11. Results of the Interviews: Q2
Q2: How should instructors in T&D online courses
manage faculty-student interaction?
Faculty note 3 areas of concern:
– Feedback
– Communication
– Relationship building

12. Results of the Interviews: Q2
Feedback
• Set clear expectations for turnaround time
• Establish types of feedback (acknowledgement,
content, automated)
• Distinguish variety and level of faculty
interactions
• Manage perceptions of legitimate feedback

13. Results of the Interviews: Q2
Communication
• Open forum for general questions
• Keep negative, sensitive issues private
Relationship building
• Instructor-student relationship (a faculty
responsibility)
• Build positive attributes of relationship up front
• Establish “bank account” of good feelings

14. Results of the Interviews: Q3
Q3: What advice would you give other instructors
in managing student feedback and
communication in T&D online courses?
Faculty note 4 areas of concern:
– Student support
– Collective expertise
– Online persona
– Email management

15. Results of the Interviews: Q3
Student support
• Experiment but never compromise quality of
education
• Instructor-student interaction: expectations are
not comparable to F2F, they are heightened
Collective expertise
• Use of group leaders
• Promote students to help one another
• Interaction should not just be content centered

16. Results of the Interviews: Q3
Online persona
– Immediacy behaviors
– Visible support role
– Facilitator of learning
Email management
– Established feedback guidelines
– Intentional responses
– Separate your online course email
– 48 hour turnaround
– Bundle responses
– Let students know when you’ll be out of touch

17. Concluding Thoughts
• Need shared understanding of eachother’s roles
• Manage expectations before course begins
• Establish patterns of individualized feedback to students
and maintain consistency in level of interaction
• Online persona continues to be a challenge for faculty
• Balance students’ needs for independence and
connection
• Remind students that faculty react to the course in a
number of legitimate ways
• Manage the human-technology interface