Carmen
Communication Tools
Create a Community Learning
Environment
Instructor Presence
• Instructor Presence is important in every
classroom environment, including online
• In a virtual environment, instructor
presence can help students:
– Feel comfortable
– Know that they are not alone
Online Communication Policy
• Instructor Presence online starts with a
strong course Communication Policy
– If you demonstrate good communication,
students will follow suit with you and other
students
– Students will know when and where to get
help
– Students will know your “office hours”
Communication Tools in Carmen
• Carmen has numerous tools to allow
communication with students. Three of
these are:
– News
– Discussions
– Dropbox
News
• The News is the first thing students see
when they enter your Carmen course
• Use this tool to keep your course fresh
throughout the semester
• Try to post at least once a week
summarizing the past week and looking
ahead to upcoming topics and
assignments
Discussions
• Discussions is the bread and butter of
interactions in Carmen
• Consider having forums to help students
get acquainted and to find help
– Introduction Discussion Forum
– Virtual “Café” Discussion Forum
Discussion Guidelines
• There are numerous ways to handle weekly
discussions throughout the semester, here are our
recommendations:
– 1 or 2 questions per week
– Students are required to answer each main question with a
post and respond to at least 2 other student posts
• As the instructor, do not feel obligated to respond to
every response, instead:
– Provide two or three responses per week on main trends
in the discussion
– Provide a post summarizing the discussion for the week
Dropbox
• Dropbox is an assessment tool, yet it also
provides an outlet to communicate with
and provide feedback to students
– Feedback outlets through Carmen
• View the document in Carmen and leave feedback
– Feedback in the student submitted document
and resubmit this annotated document to the
student
Resources
• The Fisher Teaching and Learning Café
– Community Learning Environment sub
module
• Dennen, V. (2007). Presence and Positioning as
Components of Online Instructor Persona. Journal
Of Research On Technology In Education, 40(1),
95-108.
• Lear, J. L., Isernhagen, J. C., LaCost, B. A., & King,
J. W. (2009). INSTRUCTOR PRESENCE FOR
WEB-BASED CLASSES. Delta Pi Epsilon
Journal, 51(2), 86-98.