COI COI Communication & Facilitation Skills 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which communication strategy is most effective for building instructor presence in an online course?
- Sending weekly video announcements to students (Correct answer)
- Replying only to emails marked urgent
- Posting a single welcome message at course start
- Limiting communication to course content questions
Correct answer: Sending weekly video announcements to students
Weekly video announcements humanize the instructor and reinforce a consistent, visible presence throughout the course.
Question 2: When facilitating an asynchronous online discussion, an instructor's BEST practice is to:
- Post a reply to every individual student comment
- Ask probing follow-up questions to deepen dialogue (Correct answer)
- Close threads after 48 hours to maintain pace
- Summarize all posts in a single weekly reply
Correct answer: Ask probing follow-up questions to deepen dialogue
Probing follow-up questions encourage higher-order thinking and extend peer-to-peer dialogue beyond surface responses.
Question 3: A COI-certified instructor notices students are not engaging in discussion boards. The FIRST step should be to:
- Reduce the number of required posts
- Analyze whether prompts are clear and thought-provoking (Correct answer)
- Replace discussions with video lectures
- Assign grades for every single comment
Correct answer: Analyze whether prompts are clear and thought-provoking
Poor engagement often stems from unclear or low-challenge prompts, so reviewing prompt quality is the logical first diagnostic step.
Question 4: Which tone is most appropriate for instructor feedback in an online course?
- Formal and impersonal to maintain professionalism
- Constructive, specific, and encouraging (Correct answer)
- Brief and numerical with no written comments
- Casual and humorous to reduce student anxiety
Correct answer: Constructive, specific, and encouraging
Constructive, specific, and encouraging feedback guides improvement while supporting learner confidence.
Question 5: Synchronous virtual office hours are PRIMARILY beneficial because they:
- Replace the need for written announcements
- Allow real-time clarification and relationship building (Correct answer)
- Fulfill accreditation seat-time requirements
- Eliminate the need for a course syllabus
Correct answer: Allow real-time clarification and relationship building
Real-time interaction during office hours provides immediate clarification and strengthens the instructor-student relationship.
Question 6: An online instructor wants to ensure equitable participation in a live web conference. Which strategy is MOST effective?
- Allow only students with working cameras to speak
- Use structured turn-taking and polling tools (Correct answer)
- Limit session length to 10 minutes
- Restrict chat to the instructor only
Correct answer: Use structured turn-taking and polling tools
Structured turn-taking and polling ensure all students have equal opportunities to contribute regardless of communication style.
COI COI Communication & Facilitation Skills 1
Which communication strategy is most effective for building instructor presence in an online course?