Get Along With Online Professors

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Just because you’re taking a class online and your professor may never see you in the flesh doesn’t mean that he or she doesn’t expect you to uphold the same courteous and professional standards you would in a traditional classroom setting. To learn how to establish a good relationship with your professor, continue reading below.

The first thing you want to understand that is despite how laid-back your professor may seem, you treat him or her with the up most respect and address him or her as "professor (insert name here") at all times (unless told otherwise). Your professor is not your friend and you should make sure that the appropriate boundaries are set. With that said, it’s important that you always remain professional when speaking to your professor in a chat forum, via a webcam or email. It may seem like a no-brainer, but never address your professor using slang, for example. While on the similar topic, even if your professor seems exceptionally "cool" because he or she may send some comical videos or articles to his or her students, it’s probably best that you don’t reciprocate that kind of behavior. Meaning, don’t send your professor a video for example—he or she may take offense and you will be left dealing with the consequences.

It’s also best not to "bug" your professor with non-important questions or concerns, especially those that can be easily answered in the syllabus or a textbook. This is because even though it may seem like you’re the only student because you are not surrounded by a handful of your peers, you are not. Don’t make your professor waste his or her time answering tedious questions. So unless encouraged to do so, keep unimportant questions to a minimum, and carefully scour your textbook and syllabus to see if you can find the answer there first.

Lastly, it’s not a good idea to make any comparisons to past professors. If you make a request but your new professor denies it, don’t dispute the argument by saying something like "my old professor would have let me do that." Instead of caving and granting your request for an extension, for example, your professor will only see you as a complainer and will undoubtedly take that into consideration when grading your assignments.

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