Teaching for the first time: is reaching out to each student acceptable?

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Posted on 16 Aug 2022, this text provides information on Syllabus Queries related to Course Queries. Please note that while accuracy is prioritized, the data presented might not be entirely correct or up-to-date. This information is offered for general knowledge and informational purposes only, and should not be considered as a substitute for professional advice.

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manpreet Tuteehub forum best answer Best Answer 2 years ago


I work as a programmer as a full time job. Since I'm an experienced programmer and have some teaching aptitude, I've been asked to give a 40-hour course in C# programming to a computer science group of 70 students.

I've given two lessons so far (4 hours total), mixing lecture and practice sessions. I think I'm doing just fine but I'd like to reduce the number of students I'll lose along the way. I thought I would make each student more engaged if I established a conversation with them, even if that might prove to be time consuming. I already have an ongoing conversation with (roughly) a fourth of them, since they reached out to me to ask questions and be advised on practical matters. Plus, they did the excercises I assigned to them.

How should I act with the rest of the students? Today I thought I would be sending a message to each of them (we're in a Slack team) just to check if they've understood the lessons and be helpful in giving advice in case they were stumped by simple matters they might be too shy/afraid to report. On the other hand, I understand they are adults and that I should not babysit them. What would you do?

Thank you in advance.

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manpreet 2 years ago


Having taught online for many years, I can say that you will get a large proportion of students who will not engage with you. Some of these are good students. Some of these are low-performing students. As long as the students know you are available to talk, that's what is important.

For instance, for in-person classes, I have office hours and only a small number of students will visit me during them. However, I regularly announce reminders of my office hours and when particular students are falling behind, I will reach out to them to see if they would like to visit me in my office. I do not schedule an individual meeting with all of the students in my class.

My advice is reach out to students who are falling behind individually and send full-class reminders that you are available to talk/video chat with about their questions or concerns. I actually think that having a quarter of students actively engaged with you without it being required is actually pretty good. Good luck!


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