Awesome VCU students in front of the Shafer dining hall.

To prepare students: 

  • Have them fill out a survey in the first few days of class about challenges, accessibility of technology and internet, jobs, family responsibilities, military service
    • A general “is there anything you want me to know” question can be very fruitful
  • Create an intro video. It’s important to establish online instructor presence as a person
    • Also talk about how to be successful in general (resilience)
    • How to use this course’s setup in particular
  • Especially in the first few weeks, have very regular interaction between students and each other, and between students and faculty, *without* it being too much of a time sink for faculty (so, offer whole-class feedback rather than individual at times), and without overwhelming students. MUST NOT feel like busywork to them, as well, or they will disengage. 
  • If possible, hold early online one-on-one video meetings (or small group meetings) to meet each other, and help establish online instructor presence.
  • Help students establish good habits by making sure they start going to the class website or LMS early and often.
  • Provide clear instructions for assignments: due dates, etc. 

Resources for students

  • Include FAQ and resources sections on your site
    • Could use a student discussion panel or collaborative google doc to develop or add to the FAQ so they see what others are asking
    • Be sure to include resources for students in crisis or struggling with areas including mental health, domestic violence, substance abuse, hunger, etc.

Assignment Design

  • Assign shorter articles with reading quizzes, to help motivate completion.
  • Students respond surprisingly well, both in person and online, to worksheets and specific clear instructions. 
  • Offer longer than usual time for them to complete group work. Make it as easy as possible for them to do project work asynchronously, while encouraging them to meet online whenever possible.
    • Google Meet (not optimal for people with low bandwidth)
    • Zoom uses a lot of battery strength–problematic for people with poor or no internet at home who may connect by driving somewhere (no outlet in their car)
    • Google docs
    • Group Me
    • Other group chat
    • Provide a mechanism for them to notify you if someone isn’t participating
  • Be sure to tell them briefly why they are doing something, and how it fits with other material. Research strongly supports the benefits to student achievement if they understand the purpose of what they are doing. 
    • Be explicit about skills transfer (that it’s an expectation, and that they need to do it)
  • “Because online students have the entire internet at their fingertips whenever their mind is on the course, they’re sometimes overwhelmed when searching for information. Wells [a professor] provides students with ‘key points of entry’ for information” for a given assignment, including recommending specific journals, databases, keywords, or other guidance.
  • The library materials for UNIV 112 (our second-semester Focused Inquiry class) are especially good for worksheets, videos, and lesson plans that might be helpful. 
  • Always pay attention to accessibility
  • Closed captioning is required for videos. YouTube is very good overall, but doesn’t do punctuation.

Class Planning

  • Asynchronous classes are highly recommended, especially for lectures
  • Screencast-o-matic (Free up to 15 min), or Loom are very good, but there are many options.
    • Consider small groups in shorter synchronous moments for discussion and group-building, as needed. Must offer many options for students who work or who are in different time zones.
  • Consider posting material for the following week in the first half of the week before (and not sooner). This keeps students checking the calendar, keeps them pacing themselves, and doesn’t encourage them to think they can just do it “whenever.”
  • Send a weekly email on the Friday before the next week with highlights
  • Provide students with a list of major assignments and dates at the start of the semester to facilitate planning. (Canvas does this automatically.)

Feedback

  • Frequent, personalized feedback is essential to engagement.
  • However, it’s also valuable (and much faster) to offer feedback on trends or, if needed, set up a short lesson on that particular issue and recommend that lesson to the people struggling with that issue 
  • Canvas in particular facilitates providing audio or video feedback to students on assignments. This could be faster, and should help improve student engagement.