Principle #6: Communicate High Expectations

Expect more and you will get more. High expectations are important for everyone-for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert themselves, and for the bright and well motivated. Expecting students to perform well becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when teachers and institutions hold high expectations of themselves and make extra efforts.

	Pedagogy	Implementation
1	Share your rubrics with students, so they know how they are being scored.*	Both Assignment and Turnitin activities support rubrics, though the details are different.
2	Let students see their learning progress*, and monitor individual student performance.	Use Completion Tracking to monitor student performance. Review every day and talk with every student who is falling behind or not completing assignments.
3	Include due dates, any rubrics, and details of grading for all assignments, no matter how small.	You should put this information in the Description field of all activities.
4	Suggest that students take a self-evaluation of readiness.	The evaluation by CSU Stanislaus is very useful.
5	The requirements for learner interaction should be clearly stated.* For discussion forums, consider a minimum word count, that students need to articulate something complex, in Bloom’s Taxonomy levels 3-5. Also consider a maximum word count (e.g., more than 500 words you’re probably rambling). Also, articulate how to be successful in meeting your high expectations.	In the Forum activity, set Display word count to Yes so both you and the students know. Here are additional tips for discussion forums from Educause.