6 DAY 1: Approaching Online Teaching & Learning
DAY 1: Approaching Online Teaching & Learning
DAY 1: Overview
During Day 1, we will look at foundational concepts in online learning. In particular, we look at different strategies for moving our courses online. We have included this as a way to start us all thinking about the concept of what good online teaching looks like. We have included a discussion of what is meant by asynchronous and synchronous and some examples from UBC. Finally we have started to describe how the concept of blended learning can be applied to these modalities.
In this module you will also share your teaching context, as well as a course that you are redesigning to be offered in an online or hybrid format.
Learning Objectives
By the end of Day 1, you will be able to:
- Share your goals for learning in this program;
- Articulate supports you require in order to be successful
- Identify the specific course or module to work on to apply learning;
- Discuss your level of comfort in pivoting to an online environment;
- Articulate what you currently know about (and what experience you have with online learning).
Readings & Resources
Course Readings
- Nordmann, E., Horlin, C., Hutchison, J., Murray, J., Robson, L., Seery, M., & MacKay, J. R. D., Dr. (2020, April 27). 10 simple rules for supporting a temporary online pivot in higher education. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/qdh25
- Darbey F . (2020). How to Be a Better Online Teacher. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Available at: https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/advice-online-teaching#1t
Further Reading
- Dunlap & Lowenthal. (2018) Online educators’ recommendations for teaching online: Crowdsourcing in action. Open Praxis. Available at: https://openpraxis.org/index.php/OpenPraxis/article/view/721/421 – Dunlap and Lowenthal, compile multiple online educators recommendations for online teaching.
Going Further with The Online Teaching Program
- OTP Module 2: Getting Started: This content module explores creative student-centered approaches to designing and structuring your online course materials. This module will help you to set up and begin structuring your course.
Guiding Questions
- As you move your course online, what are some strategies and approaches that can guide you?
- What is asynchronous and synchronous teaching?
- How does blended learning relate to synchronous and asynchronous teaching?
Discussion Activity (15 minutes)
On Day 1, we aim to situate you to key ideas and create space for you to reflect on and articulate where you are (current state) and where you’d like to go (goals for the week). You will complete this reflective writing exercise here at the end of this module.
Back to DAY 1: Approaching Online Teaching & Learning
Effective Online Strategies
For this module, we have provided two readings for you “How to Be a Better Online Teacher” and “Rules for the Online Pivot.” We selected these readings, because the both authors distilled best practices in online learning to some of the key elements.
How to Be a Better Online Instructor?
In the first article, Darby Flower, a senior instructional designer at Northern Arizona University provides a list of 10 essential principles and practices for online teaching and learning, and addresses the common misconceptions. The list below summarizes the principles:
- Show up to class
- Be yourself
- Put yourself in their shoes
- Organize course content intuitively
- Add visual appeal
- Explain your expectations
- Scaffold learning activities
- Provide examples
- Make Class an Inviting, Pleasant Place to Be
- Commit to Continuous Improvement
Source: https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/advice-online-teaching#1
10 Simple Rules for Supporting a Temporary Pivot In Higher Education
In the second article Rules for Online Pivot, Normann, et all describe 10 rules for supporting a temporary online transition (pivot). We have created a set of questions below to reflect on and consider how you can apply some of the suggestions in the article to your teaching context. In addition, we have shared resources available at UBC to support you considering these questions.
Provide Asynchronous Content
- What content from a standard lecture can/should be delivered in a lecture format?
- What content is foundational/background knowledge or revision that might be better shifted to self-paced or pre-reading or other activities?
- What content might be consolidated as post-lecture or extension material, self-paced formative activities, low stake summative assessments, peer to peer small group discussions, or facilitated seminars or Q&A sessions?
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For content that can and should only be presented in lecture-form, consider how this may look like in your course.
Provide Synchronous and Asynchronous Contact and Communication
The following are some examples of opportunities for synchronous communication
- Have you considered what opportunities there are for synchronous activities in your course? For example:
- Open of scaffolded opportunities to seek support or clarification in regards to course materials
- Consolidation of course content via peer or tutorials
- Social and academic networking opportunities
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Development of collaborative skills during small group activities
- When do you expect the students to have viewed the lecture content or completed the reading for each week?
- How often should they expect to participate in synchronous events?
- What monitoring and progress steps are in place?
What resources exist at UBC? (click to expand)
- Canvas can help support clear communication with students, through emails, announcements or discussion boards. Other tools such as Piazza (discussion) or Mentimeter (chat) can also be considered.
- Course announcements. You can send weekly announcements to maintain a regular teaching presence in the course and remind students of the focus and expectations for the week.
- Discussions. Set up a topic where students ask questions and you respond to everyone. In Canvas, focused discussions are best for quick topics and only allow replies to the original post, while threaded discussions are best for in-depth topics and allow infinite levels of replying.
Design Appropriate Assessments and Communicate Expectations Clearly
- Will your assessments be open book?
- How will you redesign your assessments?
- What less traditional forms of assessment might you consider?
What resources exist at UBC? (click to expand)
- Find approaches to alternative summative assessments for your course in the Keep Teaching Alternative Assessments Guide
- Find information about exam accommodations in the Exam Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Guide
Monitor and Support Engagement
- How will you monitor behavioural engagement? (e.g. how much materials have students engaged with?)
- How will you monitor psychological engagement (e.g., their new identities as online learners and how they are coping with a transition?)
- How will you monitor synchronous engagement?
What resources exist at UBC? (click to expand)
- Behavioural engagement can be monitored in Canvas using different tools such as discussions, or the way students progress throughout the course content using adaptive release or “Mark as done” features. Canvas Course Analytics can be used to generate accurate reporting on student behavioural engagement in an online course.
Review the Use and Format of Recorded Content
- What parts of your lecture can be captured on video?
- Do you have lecture recordings that you can reuse for the online course? If you do what editing or revising do they require?
- If you are reusing lecture videos, what introductory video can you create to connect with new cohort?
What resources exist at UBC? (click to expand)
- The Keep Teaching site offers useful strategies on how to share or : record video lecture through Canvas
- Share Lecture Material. Lecture materials can securely be shared with students through Canvas.
- Record Lectures. If you need to record your lectures, Camtasia (recording and editing software) and Kaltura (online video storage/streaming) can be used to capture and share them with your students. The quickest way to do this is by recording your presentation slides as you talk over them and then uploading your recording to Canvas.
Ensure that course content is available, accessible and signposted
- Do you have material that does not require accessing through the physical library? If you do not, have you made provisions to use resources to supplement the course with?
- Are the resources you will post online inline with copyright laws?
- How will you signpost course navigation for the course?
- How will you help learners navigate the course successfully?
What resources exist at UBC? (click to expand)
- Use the OER Accessibility Toolkit to find ways of making your content accessible and inclusive.
- You can use Canvas to upload and share content with the students (files, pages, hyperlinks, videos, etc.).
- You can also use the Library Online Course Reserves (LOCR) to request access to journal articles or book chapters and make sure they fall under fair dealing. LOCR is integrated within Canvas; the list of resources created can then be moved from one course to another at the beginning of a new term.
Create a community for staff and students
- What approaches will help you develop community in your classroom, for example use of question and answer questions, welcome videos?
- What campus resources can you share with your students to help support them and connect them with the campus community?
What resources exist at UBC? (click to expand)
- Share the Keep Learning site to help students find resources to support their learning
Back to DAY 1: Approaching Online Teaching & Learning
What is synchronous and asynchronous teaching?
Now that you have read about two different perspectives on effective strategies for teaching online, let’s take a brief dive into what is meant by asynchronous and synchronous teaching. In day 2 or this course we will be exploring these concepts in depth and considering how they can be blended effectively in an online course.
Synchronous teaching
Synchronous teaching is where the teacher is present at the same time as the learner(s). This is almost always the case in a face-to-face environment. Synchronous teaching can also take place via online learning, through the use of video conferencing and live chat or instant messaging. As with the face-to-face environment, the learners in synchronous online teaching can ask questions in real time.
If a course is delivered entirely through synchronous teaching, face to face or online, this can limit flexibility for learners. Because of the need for everyone to be present at the same time (even if online), all students must work through the course at a similar pace, allowing only minimal flexibility in scheduling. As everyone needs to be online together, if a learner is not available for a lesson, they miss it (although some learning organizations will record lessons for these students to view later).
The teacher’s role in online synchronous teaching might not be so very different from their role in the face-to-face environment. Synchronous learning may feature webinars (live online lessons), group chats, or drop-in sessions where teachers are available to help at a particular time. However, teaching synchronously online will require some new skills to be developed, for example in managing the faster pace of this form of teaching.
Asynchronous online teaching
Asynchronous online teaching is where teaching materials are posted online, and learners work through them in their own time, communicating with each other and the teacher via discussion boards or forums, or even by email. Good asynchronous teaching will include a variety of media, including (but not limited to) audio and video clips. With an asynchronous mode of teaching, the learner can work at their own pace and at times of day which are convenient for them. The teacher may find that the pattern of their input is very different from the synchronous environment, with many shorter visits to the discussion boards or forums being more valuable to the learners than one single, longer session. There may still be deadlines for work to be submitted for feedback, and there may be a recommended schedule for students to follow so that they have some idea of what they should be doing and when.
As you will discover later in this week, a ‘blended’ approach can help instructors to bring together the advantages of synchronous and asynchronous teaching, and of online and face-to-face teaching, into a single experience.
Guiding Questions
- How would you describe your role in a synchronous environment?
- How would you describe your role in an asynchronous environment?
- Would your role be different in both environments? Why?
You can now move on to the next section and complete our first activity: your expectations for this course.
Most educators are more familiar and more comfortable with synchronous teaching than with asynchronous teaching. It can take some strategizing and reflection to figure out how to build a strong asynchronous learning activity. For this OPTIONAL challenge, we encourage you to think of THREE synchronous learning activities that you already use in your teaching, and transform them into asynchronous activities.
Consider:
How will you describe this learning activity? (one paragraph will suffice)
What platform will you use for students to learn asynchronously? (e.g. google slides? virtual treasure hunt?)
How much time do you expect students to spend on this activity?
How will you assess whether this activity works for your students?
Share your ideas in the Discussions!
Back to DAY 1: Approaching Online Teaching & Learning
DAY 1: Discussion Activity
Online blended learning may be relatively new topics for some participants, while others may be seasoned veterans in this realm. On Day 1, we aim to situate you to key ideas and create space for you to reflect on and articulate where you are (current state) and where you’d like to go (goals for the week). To achieve the reflective component, we offer the following reflective writing exercise. Please write as much as you like for your own individual use, and choose one or more components of your writing to add to Day 1’s discussion boards. We encourage you to interact with other peers’ posts as well.
Writing prompts:
Current Strategies:
- What are some blended learning and remote teaching strategies you have experience with?
- To what extent have you relied on synchronous versus asynchronous approaches?
- Which ones would you like to continue using and which would you rather leave behind?
Current State:
- How are you feeling about this transition?
- What do you identify as your biggest challenges in pivoting to an exclusively online format?
- What do you identify as an opportunity in pivoting to an online format?
- What support do you need in order to enhance your confidence in blended online teaching?
Hindsight:
- If you have been teaching remotely this term, what 3 tips would you share with your past self about teaching online?
Goals for the Week:
- What are some tangible and actionable goals you have for this five-day course?
- How can we best help you achieve those goals?
Due at: Jun 23 at 12am
Unlock at: Jun 18 at 12am
Grading Type: Pass/Fail
Points: 1.0