Online teaching…am I doing this right?
Resources:
https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/12/how-to-teach-online-courses-coronavirus-response/
Hopefully, everyone has made it through the initial shock of a quick switch to online course delivery. As we wrap up our final lectures of the semester, I just wanted to give some tips on how to infuse a great deal of active learning into our new environment. Will teaching be the same as it was in January? No. Will it be perfect? No. Will students learn a great deal and faculty enjoy teaching? Yes! Feel free to send us an email if you have some great tips for a transition to online active learning!
Create community: One of the major hurdles for online learning (and our current quarantine restrictions) is isolation. I read one comparison of learning to exercising. If you go to group classes in the gym, you are motivated, you have a sense of community, and you commit to showing up with the others in the class. If you have a treadmill, it is on YOU to show up and power through. It’s easier to make excuses and inadvertently miss deadlines. With online course delivery, we do not necessarily have the classroom to be our group setting. We need to emphasize the sense of community that we are providing students, just in a different way.
We need to build connected, caring communities for our online students and the extent to which we respond and provide reassurance that we are here for them goes a long way in establishing relationships and building a sense of trust. It is amazing how receptive students are to quick email turnaround! Feedback should be timely as well, and specifically targeted to the work product being submitted.
The dialogue should be varied and can include video chatting, discussion boards, emails and comments providing feedback on assignments. An advantage of using such methods is that the students need to log in to the course frequently, and frequent log-ins help keep students on track and aware of assignment due dates. The ultimate goal is for the students to feel that they are part of a collaborative atmosphere with the professor as well as other students. This helps with the retention and performance of students in the course.
This can also be reaching out to your students, especially if they are your advisees. They may be facing housing instability, food insecurity, financial issues, health issues for themselves or family members, etc. Additionally, if you notice a significant change in how a student is performing in the course, it would be worth it to reach out to them or have their advisor reach out. I teach a course for students early in the program and I reached out to those who are less successful. With this change and how early they are in the program, they may be unaware of resources available or less likely to ask for help and feel that they need to “tough it out.”
Advanced preparation: This switch to online delivery requires even more preparation than live in-classroom teaching.
-How do you want to interact with students?
-Message board? Voice thread? Chat box? Have them unmute? Raise their hands?
For full episode notes and info visit www.twopillspodcast.com