Communicating with students has become more complex in the digital era. While synchronous, in-person communication is still incredibly valuable, students have begun to expect asynchronous, digital communications in addition to traditional communication methods. While keeping up this level of communication can feel overwhelming or tedious, it can be extremely beneficial to students. Various forms of asynchronous communication can help foster student motivation and provide them crucial reminders about tests and assignments so they don’t get behind (R.D. Adade, 2025).
Fundamentals:
Synchronous and asynchronous communication serve two distinct but complementary purposes for interaction with students. Synchronous communication allows for immediate feedback, open dialogue, and real-time insight into how well students understand the material. Asynchronous communication allows students to interact with and absorb information at their own pace, revisit instructional content, and keep a record of assignment feedback that they receive. While this may slow down the feedback process and contribute to misunderstanding, it can also support reflection and critical thinking (Liu, 2025). To help asynchronous communication be as effective as possible, there are a few things to remember:
- Use clear and concise language: Since asynchronous communication can easily lead to miscommunication, it is best to use simple, non-technical language.
- Provide feedback frequently: Some assignments do not warrant much communication, but even the smallest comment can help a student know that they are doing what is expected of them without having to guess based on their own opinions and grade.
- Remind them of instructions and deadlines: Even if you explain assignments in class, it does not guarantee that students will remember every detail about them. Reposting assignment directions to your Canvas course can give students a reference point for what you are looking for if (and when!) they forget (Maiti, 2022).
- Connect with your students: Easier said than done, but fostering relationships with your students can influence their personal learning, the overall learning environment, and their willingness to learn collaboratively (R.D. Adade, 2025).
Now, if possible, this should not replace synchronous communication with students. Kozak et al. suggest that synchronous communication is still a cornerstone of education for students (2025), however asynchronous communication can be an excellent supplement to it.
Options:
Within Canvas, you have a variety of options for how you can communicate asynchronously with students. Announcements, assignment feedback, and course pages are all excellent ways to get in touch with your students. These asynchronous methods allow your students to have relevant information on hand so that they can have more autonomy with their learning.
Announcements:
When people think of asynchronous communication within a learning management system, announcements are one of the first things that they think of. Announcements create notifications for students upon logging into their Canvas, making it the ideal delivery method for last-minute updates or to clarify something in an assignment that many students are struggling to understand. When you are composing your announcements, try to keep them shorter and label them appropriately. Announcements should give brief, targeted information to help students be successful. It shouldn’t be used to give big assignment directions or to layout the course schedule for the semester unless you can keep it short. When you are titling your announcements, consider titling it something like “Instructional Content” or “Class on 10/30/25” so that students know exactly what the announcement is for before reading it (Pritts, 2020).
Assignment Feedback
While you could email each of your students to provide individualized feedback, you may find it easier to use the SpeedGrader tool. When students submit assignments in Canvas, you can click on the SpeedGrader link in the top right-hand corner of the assignment. This feature allows you to assign grades quickly and provide comments using the text box at the bottom or annotation tools at the top of the page to give specific guidance.
Course/Assignment Pages:
Pages within your Canvas course can be a valuable place to reiterate assignment directions or provide additional supplemental materials to students. While we should still be conscious of the cognitive load we are putting on students when we are writing assignment directions or providing written content, students expect to receive more information on pages, so you can write more on them than you could with an announcement.
AI Usage Statement:
ChatGPT was used to double check grammar and to provide suggestions for improving syntactic clarity.
References:
Kozak, A., Blyznyuk, L., Knysh, T., Ivanashko, O., & Honchar, K. (2023). Online learning as a tool for the education system in the context of digitalisation. Journal of curriculum and teaching, 12(2), 2.
Liu, W. (2025, July). Teacher-Student Interaction in Online ESL/EFL Classrooms: A Review of Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication. In 2025 11th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2025) (pp. 1277-1287). Atlantis Press.
Pritts, N. (2020, December 7). Using Announcements to Give Narrative Shape to your Online Course. Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/online-course-design-and-preparation/using-announcements-to-give-narrative-shape-to-your-online-course/
R.D. Adade, J., M. Amos, P., Antwi, T., M. Amoako, B., & O. Danquah, S. (2025). Teacher-Student Interpersonal Relationship in Digital Education: Issues and Implications for Pedagogy. IntechOpen. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.1008815