This sub has helped me so much, even though I'm just a college professor

I've been studying my own performance as a teacher lately, and it's made my teaching way better. I know that's anecdotal, but it's my motive for posting this.<br><br>I teach for an online college. The course I teach is for first-semester freshmen. They're mostly in their teens, usually 17-19 years old. Most of them have never taken an online course before, so they don't know how to navigate a course when they first start.<br><br>It takes them a few weeks to learn how to do that, and that's fine when they first start. But my course is only 16 weeks long, so they really need to get a handle on it by the time the first month is over.<br><br>I used to put a lot of stock in rubrics. Each week, I'd give out 12-16 assignments. The course description says I'm supposed to give out 10-12 assignments a week, but I think that's too few, so I give out a few more to make sure my students really learn the course information. <br><br>I used to make a rubric for each assignment. That was a lot, but I thought it was worth it. I teach a subject that is considered "soft science," and when you do it right, you need to have a good understanding of human nature, even though you can't measure any of that scientifically. So, to get a good grade, you have to write a pretty good essay. A rubric is supposed to help you understand what makes a good essay, right? <br><br>Well, for a long time, I'd write a rubric, and my students would totally ignore it. They would do fine for the first few weeks, but then their grades would slide for the rest of the course. I'd teach until May, then I'd teach another course from June through August, and then I'd teach another course from September to January. And no matter how hard I tried, I could never get my students to understand the rubric. I'd give extra credit for writing a reflection about the rubric. I'd hold video calls just to go over the rubric. I'd even give out "participation points" just for looking at the rubric. It never worked.<br><br>I finally figured out that most of them don't read the rubric because they're still learning how to navigate the course. They don't know where to find the rubric, they don't know how to read it, they don't even know what a rubric is. <br><br>I even teach them how to use the rubric in a video lecture, but most of them don't even watch that. They just want to start submitting assignments, and that's it. <br><br>So, that's my problem.<br><br>I've searched on this sub for suggestions on how to get them to read the rubric. I found a lot of helpful advice. Someone suggested making a rubric for the rubric, but that seemed like too much, so I made a rubric for my rubric. <br><br>I kid! I didn't do that!<br><br>But, I did find a lot of good advice here. I decided to make the rubric its own assignment. Just read the rubric and submit it. Easy peasy. I made it worth 10 points, which is pretty low for my course, since most of my assignments are worth 90-100 points. <br><br>Lo and behold, most of them read the rubric, and their grades got a lot better.<br><br>Then, someone on this sub suggested using a syllabus instead of a rubric. So, I tried that. Most of my assignments are pretty similar anyway, so I wrote a syllabus, made it its own assignment, and made it worth 10 points.<br><br>Lo and behold, most of them read the syllabus, and their grades got a lot better.<br><br>I even had a few students contact me and say that this was the most transparent course they've ever taken. One student said it was totally clear from the start how to get an A, and she didn't even need to do any studying because the assignments were so easy.<br><br>I did have one student who contacted me for help, though. She said she was totally lost and didn't know how to navigate the course. I sent her screenshots showing how to get to the syllabus and rubric, but she said that didn't help. So, I offered to hold a video call with her.<br><br>I was going to teach her face-to-face how to navigate the course. <br><br>But, then I realized that if one student was having trouble, my whole class was probably having trouble. I was going to have to teach everyone face-to-face how to navigate the course. <br><br>So, I did. <br><br>I held a video call and showed everyone how to get to the syllabus and rubric. I showed them how to change their notification settings, and how to set reminders on their phone. I even showed them how to use the course to-do list. I showed them how to contact their campus advisor, and how to contact campus counseling services. <br><br>Lo and behold, most of them now know exactly how to navigate the course, and their grades are way better.<br><br>So, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone here who has given me advice on how to teach my course. This sub has been a big help.