Faculty Services
Walden instructors are facilitators, teachers, evaluators, partners, coaches, and colleagues to their students and are the main source of guidance and support for them. Instructors also engage in a variety of scholarly, university, and community service activities. Like Walden students, they are busy professionals. Walden encourages students and instructors to gain the most from their relationship by communicating frequently.
Appointments of faculty mentors, course instructors, assessors, advisors, dissertation and doctoral study chairs, and committee members usually last for the term of each specific assignment. However, the university recognizes that situations necessitating a change in faculty services may arise. Such situations include unexpected interruptions in instructor availability or instances when one party wishes a change in services. The university does not accept requests for changes that imply degradation of academic quality or integrity.
Faculty Member's Accessibility
Walden expects faculty members to be reasonably accessible to students. The expectation of reasonable accessibility does not mean 24/7 access of faculty members to students. However, it does mean that students receive quality feedback on course submissions within a reasonable time frame.
All assignments and communication should be conducted within the learning platform to support consistency and documentation of learning outcomes.
Faculty members are expected to be available to students outside the course discussion areas and in addition to providing substantive feedback on assignments and discussion posts. Faculty members will publish their availability to students through course syllabi, instructor information in the classroom, and/or other appropriate documents. The university suggests regular and predictable availability, such as online office hours or regular online chats.