Humanized Online Teaching

Moving higher education from a “weed out” culture to a culture of care


The Humanizing Online STEM Academy is a grant-funded project that is administered by the Foothill-DeAnza (FHDA) Community College District. The Academy is hosted on the CVC/@ONE Canvas instance. As a facilitator, you are a contract employee of the FHDA district.

If you have questions about these expectations, please contact Michelle Pacansky-Brock.

Why are these expectations in place?

As you know, the Humanizing Online STEM Academy is meant to give participants a transformational experience. We have done our best to make sure the content lives up to that standard. Just as important, the Academy facilitation must be highly engaged, humanized, prompt, and encouraging. Our research shows that course facilitators have a tremendous impact on the degree to which participants learn. We are counting on you to help us make the Academy truly outstanding. With that in mind, we have the following expectations. We hope providing them to you in advance will set you up for success.

Expectation #1 – Be Present

  1. On the Wednesday before the course start date, you will send a welcome email to participants in your group.
    • Copy and paste the participant emails from the roster located in the unpublished module in the Canvas course. Please paste the email addresses into the :bcc line. 
    • You’ll find a template of the welcome letter in the unpublished module too. Be sure to update all links and dates in the template.
  2. On the Saturday before the course start date, one facilitator will publish the course.
  3. You will set your notifications up in Canvas to ensure you are aware of incoming inquiries.
  4. Do your best to log into the course once per day. 
  5. Make Canvas announcements in coordination with your co-facilitators (this will be decided at your weekly Facilitator Huddles).
  6. Participate in discussions to support and guide dialogue.
  7. Nudge participants who have not logged in by day two. Use a personalized subject line; for example, “Carla, will you be joining us?”
  8. Nudge participants who are not actively engaged in the course. Use a personalized subject link; for example, “Jordan, is everything ok?”
  9. You will record brief, imperfect videos for the week one homepage, Liquid Syllabus, Module Overview pages, and in some of your announcements.
  10. On the Meet the Team page, you will incorporate a video of your equity journey, a bio, and a friendly photo of yourself.

Expectation #2 – Be Responsive

  1. Respond to participant inquiries within 24-hours.
  2. Subscribe to all discussion assignments. 
  3. If you will be away from the course for more than a day, be sure to let your co-facilitators know and make a support plan in your absence if needed. We are a team! 
  4. On the Meet the Team page, identify how you prefer to be contacted and when participants can expect a reply.
  5. Assignments should be graded within 48 hours of submission.
  6. Discussions should be graded within 48 hours of the due date.
  7. Complete the “Course Completion” assignment within 7 days of the last day of a course. For this assignment, mark it complete if the participant has completed ALL course assignments. If they are missing any assignments, it should be marked Incomplete.

Expectation #3 – Be Inclusive

  • When interacting with participants in the course (in discussions, announcements, etc), use friendly, supportive language that respects and values diversity and promotes a sense of belonging among participants. 
  • Be flexible to support the success of participants.
  • Be a warm demander. Hold all participants to the same high standards through push and care.
  • Your communications are humanizing – they are part of your participants’ learning. 
    • When you make a mistake, own it. Inform participants and fix any issues to the best of your ability. 
    • Share your struggles. Discuss your growth over time and share stories from your time in the Academy. 
    • When you record videos of yourself:
      • Record in different locations. If you plan to be somewhere cool while you’re facilitating, make a point of recording a brief video and sharing it with the class so they know you’re thinking of them.
      • Make eye contact. Look into the camera on your phone (this can be hard but it makes a big difference!).

When you’re using your phone, try to use a tripod or selfie stick so the video is steady. Shaky videos distract from your message.

Expectation #4 – Be Real

Your communications are humanizing – they are part of your participants’ learning. 

  • When you make a mistake, own it. Inform participants and fix any issues to the best of your ability. 
  • Share your struggles. Discuss your growth over time and share stories from your time in the Academy. 
  • When you record videos of yourself:
    • Record in different locations. If you plan to be somewhere cool while you’re facilitating, make a point of recording a brief video and sharing it with the class so they know you’re thinking of them.
    • Make eye contact. Look into the camera on your phone (this can be hard but it makes a big difference!).
    • When you’re using your phone, try to use a tripod or selfie stick so the video is steady. Shaky videos distract from your message.

Expectation #5 – Provide Personalized, Actionable, and Helpful Feedback

You will provide supportive, constructive feedback on assignments in both video and writing (so each participant experiences both formats). Feedback will focus on guiding participants towards achieving the rubric criteria. Each time you leave feedback, be sure to:

  • Reference a specific, positive detail from the submission so it is personalized. (“The pact you’ve written is terrific. By saying, ‘I will reach out to you if I sense you need support,’ you send the cue that you are there to support your students.”) 
  • If they have not met the rubric criteria, highlight the difficulty of the work (“This isn’t easy. I struggled with this assignment too in the Academy. But it has proven to be so valuable to me and I hope it will be to you too.”)
  • Indicate which criteria are not yet met and provide actionable feedback. (“You’re almost there, Shawn. To earn a Complete on this assignment, I need you to take a look at the following rubric criteria: <enter criteria titles>. Then revise your assignment to meet those criteria and resubmit it. OK?”
  • Affirm their abilities (“You’ve got this.”)
  • Offer more support (“If you need some additional clarification or support, please send me a message through the Canvas Inbox. We’ll get through this together!”)

Expectation #6 – Reflect and Grow

After the Academy ends, you will receive a report of the Final Course Feedback form responses from participants in your group. Take time to review them. Then write a reflection about the feedback, indicating what went well and areas in which you could improve. Include some specific ideas about how you will strive to improve in those areas too. Send the reflection to Michelle within 2-weeks of receiving the report. 

You’ve got this! And when you need support, your fellow facilitation team is here for you.