Part One: Course Design
Key Question: How do you improve student engagement on an online platform?
Key Idea(s):
- Have a clear set of purposes and expectations of students when presenting a class activity.
- Regularly host in-class discussions or online discussion forums for students to voice their thoughts and opinions.
- Take advantage of digital tools* to book student engagement, such as:
- Online videos
- Audios
- Images
*Sourcing for online media can be hard, and at times can present barriers for students when accessing your materials. In such a case, you can try creating your original tools and resources, and try to better understand the online system to lower any challenges your students may face.
Part Two: Teaching Humans
Key Question: How do you “deliberately design” a course for better student understanding, social interactions, and support?
Key Idea(s):
- Building a community comes with three core areas, where subpar execution can hinder online AND in-person class interactions:
- Cognitive presence
- Social presence
- Teaching presence
- Feedback is crucial for student learning! Try to better structure your grading systems and office hours.
- Commenting does not always have to be in the form of written words. Rather, you could use video or audio, which have proved themselves to be rather effective.
Part Three: Student Success
Key Question: How do you foster student success, for both off and online classes?
Key Idea(s):
- Take note of emails from your students that come in early on in the semester! Typically, they will voice important concerns and are directly asking you for your help.
- Use modules and mastery quizzes for at-risk students to push them to learn a given concept themselves.
- Scaffold assignments can help smoothen out the transition from easier to more difficult concepts.
Part Four: Motivation (Students AND Instructors)
Key Question: How do you motivate both students and instructors for online classes?
Key Idea(s):
There are three main methods:
- Creating autonomy
- Making connections
- Developing as an online instructor
Creating autonomy:
- You can have students self-enroll in scaffolded groups depending on the student’s interests.
- You can implement specifications grading, where students understand there is a basic criterion they must meet to receive a good grade that can assist students in providing quality work.
- Taking student suggestions on how to design the syllabus will also give students some autonomy about what and how they will learn.
Making connections, between new and old knowledge:
- Try activating students’ prior knowledge by using different media types!
- Embed concept maps so students can visualize their understanding of new knowledge, and the gap between what they already know.
Developing as an instructor, and inspiring oneself:
- Try increasing your viewpoint on what it is like to be a student of an online class!
- You could try taking online courses yourself, see what went well and what should change, and reflect upon your course.
- Alternatively, you can seek out exemplar courses and search for support resources or help from relevant departments.
- There are also rubrics instructors could use to see whether or not one’s course is of high quality.