Educational Value	8.1 The instructor encouraging communication between students (reciprocity) and cooperation among students
Quality Standards	8.1.1 Any class environment, whether electronic or traditional, will not allow ridicule, derogatory statements and/or negative comments between students. Instructors will establish communication rules that foster open and supportive communication between students. 8.1.2 Where appropriate to content and teaching style, the instructor will foster learning activities that require group activity. Instructors will be clear about the task, require all members to participate and set concrete timelines for completion.
Educational Value	8.2 The instructor's course activities being directly related to course goals and objectives
Quality Standards	8.2.1 Instructors will prepare their course materials prior to using them to assure the activities or lectures are presented in a timely way and are directly related to the goals and objectives of the course. 8.2.2 Instructors will differentiate between "required" and "optional" activities. Required activities will be graded and be parts of the final grade in the course. Optional activities are usually not graded and are provided to allow students to expand their breadth of knowledge on certain subjects. 8.2.3 Instructors will provide directions for accessing any external websites. All website activities will directly relate to the goals and objectives of the course’s required assignments and will be graded. Instructors will caution their students to remain focused on required content from websites that have been assigned.
Educational Value	8.3 All enrolled students being communicated with fairly and their learning environment being supportive
Quality Standards	8.3.1 When instructors need to deal with problems related to one or a few students, they will deal with that one or those few students directly and in private. Instructors are to avoid making negative statements about students or student situations to the class at large. There are times when such communications are unavoidable, but this should be the exception and not the rule. 8.3.2 Instructors will be vigilant of the characteristics of the students (e.g., demographics, traits and career aspirations, etc.) in their course. Instructors are to be aware of students who, due to shyness or other reasons, are reluctant to ask questions. Instructors are to engage them supportively and to encourage students to ask questions. 8.3.3 All private and confidential communication must stay confidential. No confidential information will be discussed or shared within the hearing or reading of other students and should never be addressed, either directly or indirectly, in a community electronic environment (e.g., bulletin board).