L2 3 1

=Institutional policies define requirements for staff responsiveness to student communication. =

Evidence
Institutional policy must define response guidelines for staff when dealing with student communication. This is because students need to know what to expect, and staff need to know what is expected. ‘It is important to define clear participation requirements in terms of length, content and timeliness. It is important to provide engaging questions, focus discussion, challenge and test ideas, model appropriate contributions, and ensure that discourse is progressive’ (Garrison & Cleveland-Innes 2005, p. 145).

Unless students receive prompt feedback they feel they are posting to the network without response (Vrasidas & McIsaac 1999).

Resources
Many universities have guidelines for staff responsiveness to emails, and sometimes templates for responsiveness policies can be found, e.g.:

http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/planning/develop.html

However, policies should cover all communication modes not merely email.