I know many of us are struggling with having to learn how to teach online in a very short period of time. For those of you about to turn your small discussion seminar into an online class, I thought it might be useful to go over some basics of online lesson planning.
Online seminars should, whenever possible, include a combination of synchronous and asynchronous approaches. I want to help you build lesson plans that maximize the benefits of each approach to online learning. Even if you don’t have the ability to use synchronous tools, you should still find this useful.
The choice between what kind of activities to choose for your suddenly online class should be driven by content needs, learning outcome priorities, and efficient use of limited time for interaction during live online discussions. If an activity can be done asynchronously without sacrificing quality, then do it. For example, if you normally start class by asking students to identify something they found surprising or interesting about the week’s readings, keep doing that! Just have them answer in a blog or discussion forum before class, then concentrate on the points of common interest during the synchronous discussion.
Asynchronous Activities
Students complete asynchronous activities on their own time, before, during, or after a synchronous class session. You give students a window of time in which they need to complete the activity, and they do so at their convenience within that window, not necessarily at the same time as their classmates.
These activities should meet at least one of the following needs:
- Prepare students for a discussion or presentation (individual or group)
- Check student understanding of a specific term, concept, theory, case, or idea.
- Follow-up on a discussion topic that needed more time
- Initiate discussion on a topic there wasn’t time to cover at all.
- Reduce the amount of time needed to deliver content synchronously
- Give students meaningful work that will enhance their understanding of key content.
Synchronous Session Activities
Synchronous activities occur within a voice conferencing style virtual classroom. In these sessions, everyone meets live online at the same time for class. In some cases they will directly follow or precede an asynchronous activity, as the two types of activities should complement each other.
These activities should be used to meet one or more of the following needs:
- Host a discussion that is well-suited to instantaneous response.
- Review points of confusion in the readings, lectures, or asynchronous discussions
- Student presentations and small group problem-solving
- Introduce, discuss or review particularly complex topics, procedures, or ideas.
- Identify and assess key take home points for the week and build bridges and connections to previous or future material
- Give students meaningful work that will enhance their understanding of key content.
Example Activities
This is not an exhaustive list by any means and while they are written as paired lessons, faculty should be creative in how they build their class sessions. But for those just getting started, feel free to draw from this list and combine activities as you see fit.
| Samples Lessons Combining Asynchronous and Synchronous Activities | |
| Asynchronous Activities | Synchronous Activities |
| Quiz on prerecorded lectures and readings before class to check understanding using a quiz function like Google Forms. | Discuss common points of confusion and focus on those to ensure understanding of key terms. |
| Ask students to propose discussion questions for the next session on a discussion board | Pick a handful of the discussion questions, have the student explain their question and invite responses. |
| Ask students to work in small groups before class to complete a prompt or activity. | Have each group present their work and invite other students to critique and offer counter arguments. If the group work requires a short period of collaboration, use the breakout group function in your VTC. |
| After class, post a couple of discussion questions for students to answer on topics that you were unable to cover in class. Ask students to respond substantively to one or more questions by the next day and to offer a counterargument to another classmate by the day after that. | During the class session, cover as many discussion topics as you like, but recognize that you may not have the time to achieve the desired depth and breadth. Stop discussions as needed to move on to the next topic, but provide a forum for them to continue the conversation after class. |
| Upload a short lecture on content that needs to be delivered. Alternatively, send them a link to a video. Ask students to post questions, take a quiz, or respond to a prompt in their LMS blog before class. | Address any student questions about the lecture or video and highlight a couple of key points before initiating discussion on a related topic. Poll students using the chat function or ‘reactions’ within the VTC to check understanding. |
| Ask students to annotate or analyze a key reading. They can annotate in the free software Perusall, or ask them to create a single slide that notes key points. | Compare student key points or annotations and make sure that everyone has consensus on the takeaways. Apply the concepts or lessons to a case. |
| Have students use the Wiki function in the LMS in teams to collaborate and build an entry on a key theory, process, concept, or case. | Challenge students on elements of their wiki, including assumptions, missing information, questionable conclusions, or other points of improvement. |
One final piece of advice:When designing lessons, be clear in your own minds and communicate to students about the purpose of asynchronous activities. Provide feedback to students (individually or as a group, in writing or during a synchronous session) on their performance so they know their work has value. Estimate how much time a particular activity will take, and make sure you aren’t overburdening them with assignments when you also account for time spent in synchronous sessions.
What ideas do you have for lessons that combine synchronous and asynchronous tools?
What is “VTC” — virtual teleconference?