Higher Ed is in crisis mode in much of the USA, with faculty at a growing list of universities being told that on-campus instruction is suspended until further notice. If you work at one of these institutions, here’s some advice:
First, a great analysis by Rebecca Barrett, assistant professor of sociology at Arkansas State University:
Please Do a Bad Job of Putting Your Courses Online.
Some mundane advice from me:
Design according to student learning outcomes
- What activities will help students learn what you want them to learn? There are multiple options that serve the same goal, and some function well in an online environment.
Students benefit from consistent difference
- Organize the course as a series of similarly-structured modules that include varied tasks; for example, readings + writing assignment + graded discussion + quiz in each module. Spaced repetition of activities with different cognitive demands aids learning. Students appreciate a routine — it helps them develop a schedule in a new environment.
- If your students are (or were) full-time residential undergraduates without families, set deadlines for 10:00 pm so they aren’t awake past midnight.
Use a variety of content delivery methods
- Convert lecture notes to brief essays or outlines. Create visual presentations with PowerPoint or Prezi. Assign e-book chapters or journal articles in the library’s databases.
- Producing high-quality video is very labor intensive and nearly impossible to create on short notice without professional expertise. Audio must be captioned for the hearing-impaired. Instead use existing resources like Crash Course.
Include opportunities for student-student interaction; e.g., discussions
- Require that students post substantial discussion comments by the halfway point in each week/module, and that they meaningfully respond to the comments of others.
- Interact with students by regularly posting your own comments in discussions.
- Grading discussions in Canvas is easy with a rubric and Speedgrader.
Testing
- Your university’s learning management system (LMS) will grade multiple-choice and true/false tests for you.
- Create a question bank first, then draw questions for a test from it. This will save time and effort in the long run.
- Timed tests where students have on average only 1-2 minutes per question will minimize cheating. Some universities have purchased tools that are integrated with the LMS that lock down browsers (to prevent new windows from being opened) and monitor students activity during tests.
Writing assignments
Short, frequent writing assignments (1-2 pages per module) are better than only one or two longer assignments. Frequent practice and feedback = better student work.
Time spent grading can be greatly minimized with rubrics.
Specify file types (doc, docx, pdf) to ensure that you can read what students submit.
Build support networks
Your colleagues down the hall and across campus are valuable resources. Benefit from them. Someone probably knows a solution to the problem you’re struggling with, whether it be a technological obstacle or carving out work time at home when your child’s elementary school has closed.
These actions also improve your teaching in on-campus courses by making it easier for students to learn and by reducing the time and effort you expend on unsatisfying tasks.