Best Practices in Online and Blended Teaching

When conducting an emergency shift from face-to-face or in-person learning to online learning for your students, be sure to communicate any and all changes that will take place based on the best practices below, including any changes to expectations, grading, course schedule, due dates, assignments, and formats or methods of conducting quizzes/exams, discussions and assignments. It may be effective during this transition to communicate this out and post it in multiple places such as through email, course announcements and creating a course changes section in the Brightspace/D2L course shell for students to see when they log into the course. 

 

Teaching Online Program (TOP)

Online teaching requires a different set of pedagogies and skills to teach and engage students at a distance.  The Center offers faculty support and training for teaching online through the Teaching Online Program (TOP). This program is for faculty with limited online teaching experience and who are teaching online in an upcoming semester. Faculty who teach 100% online or who teach partially online will find this program of value in helping to increase student success.

 

 

Developing a communications plan

It is critical to keep in touch with your students during an emergency situation such as an outbreak of COVID-19. Communicate with them early and often.

Alternative Assessment

Exams can be challenging in an online teaching/learning situation. There are ways to minimize academic integrity violations while still ensuring that the exam accurately reflects student learning.

Teaching Labs Online

One of the biggest challenges of teaching during a building or campus closure is sustaining the delivery of instructional laboratories. 

Organizing Content

Learn how to establish a pattern of learning where students can log into the course, know where to find everything they need. 

Course Materials

Providing additional and/or different course materials to support transitioning from a face-to-face to an online course.

Online Lectures

Deliver lectures through real-time synchronous web conferencing sessions or by recording a video using lecture capture software. 

Assignments

Assignment tool allows students to submit assignments in Brightspace/D2L without having to visit a classroom or send through email. 

Discussions

Creating and facilitating online discussions and student collaboration

Teaching from Home

Tips for transitioning teaching and scholarly activities from campus to home

 

Teaching with Technology

For additional resources on teaching with technology, head to Academic Technology and Outreach for support.

 

Employing Equity-Minded & Culturally-Affirming Teaching Practices in Virtual Learning Communities

In this webinar, Drs. Frank Harris III and J. Luke Wood are presenting some salient trends and issues that complicate the experiences of diverse community college learners in online courses and propose equity-minded teaching and learning strategies for faculty teaching online courses. This webinar is free to the public and is hosted by the Center for Organizational Responsibility and Advancement (CORA).