Note: these materials were created in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. some materials may be out of date.
teaching & learning resources - remote pedagogy best practices
Topics addressed:
The Context for Remote Student Learning
“Connected” Remote Learning
General Guidelines & Thoughts about Remote Instruction
Communication
Feedback & Assessment
Synchronous and Asynchronous Balancing Act (Emphasis on Student Engagement)
Teach Student HOW to Learn Remotely
Accessibility & Universal Design for Learning
General Best Practices for Course Design “Refresher”
Training & Conversation video bank:
the context for remote student learning
Research on learning suggests that it has multiple dimensions—Cognitive, Social, and Emotional (Chris Jernstedt, SEPCHE Faculty Development Day 2020). Working all three aspects of learning deliberately is key to successful teaching always, but especially when teaching remotely.
The cards are stacked against the instructor though. We know that in our information-rich world full of pings that our attentions spans are suffering. Attention spans vary according to age (and of course whether or not the person finds what they are paying attention to interesting), but for our student population in a traditional learning environment, we can expect students to pay attention for about 15-20 minutes.
Online, watching instructional videos, students lose attention or get distracted more easily. The optimal video length for student engagement is only six minutes.
Here is a wonderful 4-minute video about what it is like to be a student now.
“Connected” remote Learning
[IHC Conversation on Best Practices for “Connected” Remote Teaching & Learning- accessible to CHC community members only]
The trick is making “connections” while being remote—connections between us and the students, between the students, and between the activities and design of the course and the course outcomes. We all design our courses carefully, but when the possibility of disruption looms it is more important than ever to think in terms of the mantra: be intentional and purposeful.
Communication is vital but you need to do more work in your interactions with students in a remote learning situation—you are trying to make the relationships, connections, and sense of personal caring that we often make with students in the causal moments before or after class or when we run into them in the hall.
Keep in mind that you have to reinforce regularly the structure and logic of the course:
You will have to communicate the connections between the elements of the class more frequently and more directly than you might do if you were meeting face to face.
You will have to communicate how activities or assignments are linked to course objectives.
You will have to remind students of the arc and structure of the course and share the highlights after each “module” or “topic” to make sure they understood what they were supposed to experience/learn/practice in that portion of the class.
You will have to find ways to communicate your deep caring for your students through the screen—by personalized emails or call-outs in class when something is going well. You have to communicate to the students that you are rooting for them and their success.
And remember to use the technologies we have to help the students find ways to feel connected to you and to each other.
GENERAL GUIDELINES & THOUGHTS ABOUT REMOTE INSTRUCTION
As you plan for Fall, it may be helpful to plan with asynchronous components in mind. What mix of synchronous and asynchronous are you comfortable with for your course? Well-designed asynchronous activities can help address students’ need for flexibility, their desire for connection, and “zoom-fatigue,” while also creating opportunities for meaningful self-directed learning.
Consider questions such as: what must be taught (or is best taught) synchronously? What parts of the course might be prepared as self-directed or group-directed asynchronous activities and assignments using the LMS or other tools at your disposal?
In remote instruction of any kind remember that time takes on new meaning. Zoom-fatigue is real and we all will get tired of staring at screens and feel a bit isolated.
As mentioned above, research on learning suggests that it has multiple dimensions—Cognitive, Social, and Emotional (Chris Jernstedt, SEPCHE Faculty Development Day). We need to try to engage all three as best as possible. What does this look like?
Develop an authentic online/remote teaching presence. The modality is stilted, but you don’t have to be. Remember to be human, make jokes, communicate your personality and your care for the students even in the remote format.
Keep the students connected to you through regular, predictable communication pattern and through targeted emails to students who may be struggling.
Consider holding regular, virtual office hours where students can just “drop in” to chat with you. Remind students with a notice via email and on Canvas announcement about an hour before you go “live.”
Empathize with students. Try to understand how students (and how you) experience the disruption—practically, socially, emotionally. Consider being a bit more flexible with students who are struggling. Work to keep them engaged through personal outreach.
Imagine the course experience from the students’ perspective at least once a week—how are they experiencing what they are doing? Are you making the connections between content and activities as clear to them as it is to you! If you are concerned that you may be giving them too much work, try this Coursework Calculator from Rice University.
Seek student feedback on workload and progress. Encourage students to let you know if they are finding the workload overwhelming or if they haven’t understood a concept. It helps if you have a defined way for them to do this—a discussion board or the Q & A section of Canvas, a communication spot reserved for this purpose.
Connect students to each other. Try to find ways to engage the students with each other even when working remotely through simulated group work.
Have students do peer review on Canvas
As students to collaborate on documents and presentations on Canvas
Encourage students meet in small groups through breakout rooms on Canvas or Teams during a synchronous class
Encourage students working in a group to meet synchronously to get work done together without you present
Connect students to peer-tutors and the learning centers for additional help and to provide an additional sense of connection.
Connect with what’s going on in the wider world. Reinforce the relevance of what you’re teaching and student’s motivation for learning. This also gives students critical practice in observing, reflecting and applying what they’re learning.
Safeguard your own mental health and well-being. It is easy to work all the time; set boundaries for yourself and respect them. Set predictable times when you will be “present” in the course—even if it is asynchronous—the time you might work on discussion board posts, watch student video presentations, hold virtual office hours, etc.
The Key is Communication!
Explain the logic of how you communicate
It may be helpful to establish expectations around communication in the course in the first week and on the syllabus. Explain to your students both HOW you will communicate with them (emails, the announcements page in Canvas, etc.) and WHAT they can expect to find in these planned emails/announcements.
You may also wish to set your students’ expectations around how long you will take to answer emails and/or when you go offline for the evening (e.g., I rarely check emails after 6pm). Consider giving students another way to reach out to you—a phone number or a mobile number where they can text you.
Establish a predictable pattern of communication—and stick to it
Faculty and instructors are encouraged to establish a clear, predictable pattern of communicating with students. Let students know HOW you are using Canvas—what they will (and will not be able to find) on it. Consider a short screen capture video in the first week with an overview of how you will use Canvas and your method of organizing materials on the site.
Especially if you are not seeing your students F2F, consider reaching out to students via email at least twice a week. An email at the beginning of the week might include a summary of the week ahead, including links to any due dates or special activities (e.g., a discussion board or peer review). An email at the end of the week, might be a bit more personal—celebrating something from class that happened during the week, wishing everyone a nice weekend, noting a relevant event or anniversary related to the work of the class, and/or previewing the next week.
Communicate the same thing in multiple places
Consider making communications available in multiple spaces—of course, you send them via email, but consider posting a version of it in the “Announcements” area of the course on Canvas as well.
Add rich, dynamic content
Consider adding images or video content to your emails. You might send them a video of you talking through the week for 2 minutes at the beginning of the week.
Personalize Communications
Consider personalizing your email and Canvas profile images, so students clearly see when an email is from you. For instructions on personalizing your email profile images:
If there is a move to emergency instruction, communication becomes even more important. Here are some suggestions and guidelines:
Continue the communication habits you have established for the course.
Consider a special communication (as always posted in multiple places) that clearly reviews any changes to the course because of the change in delivery modality.
Communicate which technologies you will use and how (e.g., Canvas for course work, Teams (or other) for videoconferencing and/or synchronous class meetings, a textbook site for activities, etc.) Please note: best practice entails that even if you use a textbook site for activities, all the grades for any activity in the class should still be posted in Canvas, so the student’s total course grade is clear at any moment in the course.
Reinforce institutional changes in policies or schedules (e.g. changes in attendance policy, P/F policy, etc.), by sending a message to your students about how these changes do or do not affect their experience in your class. Forewarn students that changes in schedule and modality could occur based on the trajectory of transmission and community spread.
Communicate resources for students who may struggle with the transition to remote instruction, including: technology requirements and support services, academic support services, accessibility support services, and mental health services. [I am working to prepare a generic communication for faculty that includes this and any other relevant info that they can tailor as needed]
Timely Feedback & Grade Transparency
Establish expectations
Always but especially when you are not meeting students F2F, timely feedback on student work is vital. Let students know how long you will take to respond to their work (e.g., for a set of papers, it might be a week or a week and a half; for quizzes, it might be by the next class). Also let them know the format you will use to deliver feedback (screen capture, mark up using editing tools, speed grader in Canvas, etc.)
Use rubrics
Equally important is making sure students understand HOW they are being graded through use of clear, easy to understand rubrics. You can make rubrics that you share with your students as document files; there is a rubric function on Canvas should you wish to use it.
Use the grade book and keep it updated
Be sure to post grades regularly, so students can see how they did on a particular assignment and how they are doing in the class overall easily. I’ll be honest: Gradebook on Canvas takes a second to set up, but it is a very useful tool, once you have it up and running!
The Synchronous/Asynchronous Balancing Act
One of the challenges of remote or partially remote instruction is deciding on the appropriate balance between synchronous (everyone meeting at the same time and in the same place to cover the same material at roughly the same pace) and asynchronous (materials and activities that can be accessed by different members of the class at their convenience) activities.
Many students reported that in Spring 2020, they enjoyed the ability to connect with professors and other students in synchronous environments; they also appreciated the structure and predictability of these meetings, which helped them with motivation. However, many students also sang the praises of asynchronous instruction, which gave them the flexibility they needed to meet personal and workplace demands when learning from home.
Growing evidence suggests that a combination of synchronous and asynchronous activities is best for traditional undergraduate students. Keep in mind, though, our students are not “online” students—and they don’t want to be! I strongly recommend some synchronous activity (consider some sort of synchronous meetings at least once a week) to help students feel connected to you and to each other. Intentionally created asynchronous activities can complement this personal touch by providing students opportunities to take responsibility for their learning and/or work in project-based teams without the instructor present.
The key issue is again, communication! Particularly with asynchronous learning, faculty ideally will clearly explain how the asynchronous activities are connected to the work of the course and to the outcomes and learning objectives. Please do keep in mind: asynchronous activities should not be overly burdensome; they should commensurate with the amount of time they would have spent on the course in a traditional F2F format.
Whether in person or remote, here is a great overview of How To Make Your Teaching More Engaging. It has practical and helpful tips for activities!
Remote Synchronous Strategies & Ideas
Use synchronous classes to create learning experiences rather than lectures or discussions with you as the “sage on the stage.” Remember the “one doing is the one learning” and since the average human attention span is about 20 minutes, you students will learn more, the more they are engaged actively in the learning process. You can also stage the following experiences to occur synchronously on Canvas or Teams to break up class-time so it isn’t all lecture:
A group meeting or discussion (using break out rooms in Canvas or by setting up different channels in Teams). Remind students they have the ability to meet in Teams without you. As members of the team, they can also hold meetings.
A “peer review” session on Canvas scheduled and designed to be completed during the class meeting period.
A “collaboration” scheduled and designed to be completed during the class meeting period.
Use interactive tools to drive student engagement—Kahoot is a fun and easy quiz tool and Poll Everywhere is an awesome tool that you can use on its own or embedded into PowerPoint or Google slide decks; it gives you access to real-time quizzes, polls, word clouds, and much more.
When holding a synchronous discussion, be sure to:
Have anyone who is not speaking mute their mic to avoid background noise and feedback.
Ask students to use webcams, always, but especially if they are talking or presenting. Try to set the expectation for webcam use BEFORE the first online synchronous class. If students are reluctant because they don’t want others to see their home or where they student, feel free to share:
Consider using visuals to break the monotony of the talking head on the screen.
Use polls or other forms of querying students from services like Kahoot and Poll Everywhere to keep students engaged.
Strengthen active engagement/Attendance Concerns
When students are using their webcams, you may have attendance concerns since some students call in and then seem to walk away or check out in some fashion.
Post along with recorded class lectures or discussions a few questions. Stipulate that to be counted “present,” students must send you answers to the questions (make sure they are at different time points in the class to ensure students listen to the entire recording).
Throw in some questions during the lecture or discussion to which the students must respond—in the chat, by using a tool like Kahoot or Poll Everywhere, or in a communication after the class. You should let students know in advance that if they do not respond to these questions or prompts, they will be counted as “absent” even if their icon was visible during class.
Remind students that we have a shared responsibility for the learning experience. This is not one-sided. “Therefore, you are expected to be present and actively engaged. I will call on you. For my part, I will not lecture beyond 20 minutes.”
Asynchronous Strategies & Ideas
[IHC Conversation on Designing Meaningful Asynchronous Activities—accessible to CHC community members only]
Asynchronous activities provide an opportunity for students to take responsibility for their learning and/or build relationships with each other by engaging in some activity that produces a deliverable when the class does not meet synchronously. The most common asynchronous activities are: email, discussion boards, blogs, wikis, podcasts, videos, and e-portfolios.
Please keep in mind that these “deliverables” should be commensurate to work you would expect students to produce during a class period. A danger when moving to remote instruction is demanding much more work of students than you would in a traditional F2F environment. Make sure you are not giving “busy” work because you are not seeing the students in the same way. Every time you assign something, explain to yourself and to the students how the assignment or the activity helps the students reach one of the course objectives. If you are concerned that you may be giving students too much work, try this Coursework Calculator from Rice University.
Post a reflection or a quiz along with the recorded lecture (yours or someone else) and/or a film/documentary and/or a podcast (try to imagine this work taking only the amount of time you would usually ask them to be in class).
Exercise caution with “recorded lectures” as a default offering as research from the Spring shows that students begin to lose interest in recorded lectures after the first minute! Recorded lectures are great and necessary as a back-up, but use them with caution as a staple of the course.
One pedagogical expert on a webinar I attended suggested using alternatives to lecture delivery when recording information; she suggested using storytelling or case studies as possible alternatives. How to use Storytelling in teaching!
Have students create a video or presentation that relates to the work of the class and upload it, then ask the students to comment on each other’s creation by a specified due date.
Have students do a “peer review” or “collaborations” exercise or another group work exercise (this can be synchronous or asynchronous).
Have students participate in an asynchronous discussion board—be sure you are “present” regularly to guide discussion and prompt further considerations.
Have students keep journal or blogs or even wikis related to course material—these can be individual or collaborative.
Have students create an e-portfolio as they progress in the course—demonstrating how they are meeting key course learning objectives. They create pages in the portfolio were they attach an assignment where they met the objective and explain how they did it—great for reflection!
Teach Students How to Learn Online
One thing that has come up in many of the webinars I have attended is that we have to help our traditional undergraduate students understand how to learn in hybrid, online, of disrupted F2F courses. In other words, it is not enough to simply move forward with the plan. Our students by and large are not signing up for nor do they prefer online course delivery, but we need to help them be successful in those formats for now.
Explain the way your course is designed and how it works, if you will be online or hybrid from the beginning. If you are F2F and shift to emergency remote instruction, consider spending much of the first remote class explaining how the course works in this new delivery environment
Remind them you want them to succeed and that you support their learning.
Organize your syllabus to make clear the learning outcomes and how to succeed (be sure include rubrics).
Make time on a regular basis to gauge student learning. This helps students learn how to reflect, build self-awareness with respect to learning goals, assess their learning and adjust course to meet the goals. These could be 3-2-1 exit tickets or help and hinder surveys.
Take time to review and revisit expectations that are clearly laid out in the syllabus: how much time should they be spending out of class and on what to prepare for class meetings; expectations for class participation, upcoming deadlines and assessments. Check out this cool Coursework Calculator from Rice University to figure out how much work you are giving your students.
accessibility issues & universal design for learning
[IHC Conversation on Accessibility and UDL—accessible to CHC faculty only]
Universal Design for Learning aims for equity. In other words, courses should be designed so that all students can meet the outcomes from where they are. Accommodations are reactive based on the particular needs of individual students. Accessibility is proactive. It is how we respond to the needs of populations not individuals.
If you find you have students who do not have access to all the technology they need, asynchronous elements (and recording and posting synchronous elements) become very important. Things you can do to build equity:
Post static content
Offer students a predictable weekly routine for and structure to the course.
Keep students motivated by holding them accountable for reading and watching videos by giving reading or video content quizzes that focus on synthesis and analysis (not basic multiple choice).
Have students submit written or recorded assignments where they share they key takeaways.
Create and value online discussions—forums that are asynchronous. Keep in mind, you should be in there guiding and clarifying periodically.
More soon!
GENERAL COURSE DESIGN “Refresher”
Whether you are designing for online, hybrid, or F2F for the Fall 2020 semester, consider using backward pedagogical design—start with your Learning Outcomes and build the activities and content around those outcome. In preparing courses for remote or emergency remote instruction, our OUTCOMES won’t and shouldn’t change (especially for Fall when we have a chance to plan), but how we approach helping our students meet our outcomes might. However, you might want to revisit your outcomes and make sure they are clear and measurable. For a wonderful “refresher” on writing really strong objectives, see Articulate Your Learning Objectives which reviews not only how to articulate objectives but how to align assessment and instructional strategies with your objectives. One other useful resource is to design your course based on a Course Map. You may also find this “action-oriented” version of Bloom’s Taxonomy helpful.
The key takeaways:
Consider using backward course design
Revisit your course objectives and make sure they are clear and measurable
Align content, activities, and assessments with those objectives.