1.1 Create a schedule

In the face-to-face teaching environment, the teacher is not available to learners at all times of the day and night, every day of the week. When moving to an asynchronous online learning environment it is tempting for students to expect that the teacher should be always available. As the teacher, you need to establish a set schedule of when you are, and are not, available to learners. If they will need synchronous support, drop-in tutorials can be scheduled. Otherwise agree that you will respond to messages within a specific time period so that, for example, if a learner contacts you after a certain hour in the evening, they know not to expect a response until the following morning. Similarly, provide a schedule of expectations to learners – tell them by when you consider they should have reached each milestone in the course and follow up when students miss core deadlines. This should help keep on track those learners who are less capable of motivating themselves to progress through the course.