Out of the three stakeholders that are a part of Michigan virtual, I would say that my strongest line of communication is with the students. While in my classes, students have access to my email, my Adobe Connect link, and my phone number for texting and calling. My second strongest stakeholder communication is with the mentors. I tried to keep the mentors updated as much as possible without clogging up their inbox. As a former mentor, I understand how easy it can be to send so many messages that people start to tune out. As a result, my communication with mentors is not as strong as with my students. I don’t think this is necessarily bad, as long as the mentors are being updated on the important points.
The area that I need the most work is probably my communication with the parents. I have had very little interaction with parents during my first year at Michigan virtual. In that time, I have only talked to parents a few times per semester. Generally, my first line of communication is with the students, second with the mentors and third to the parents. Again, I don’t necessarily see this as bad. While parents should be informed of their students progress, if we are doing our jobs correctly then there should be no need to get a hold of a parent. I believe that it is up to us and the mentors to make sure that our students are succeeding in our courses.
