How Do Online Students Interact With Professors?

A huge part of the higher education experience is students’ interaction with their professors. There is nothing like being in the room with an engaging teacher. But what happens when you take away in-person interaction with online learning?

When you are in an online class with UMass, the faculty has created innovative ways to ensure that students have a connection to their classes and professors. For instance, professors create discussion boards for each of their online classes to promote conversations between classmates and the ability to answer any questions that may come up during the semester. Other ways to connect include video tutorials and chat applications such as Skype and Google Hangouts so students can get extra time to master a specific topics.

This is a common question we hear from prospective students. They are concerned that there will be no interaction in their online classes with their professors if they have questions on the course content. This will not be the case. Professors provide multiple contact information and specific timeframes when they will always be available for student questions. With multiples ways to reach out, communication between professors and online students at UMass can be very successful.