Moving Your Face-to-Face Course Online Quickly

Part 3: Designing to Support Students

How can I design my online course to best support my students?

Recommended time: 30 minutes + planning activities

Listen [1:00]

Introduction-Part3.mp3

Introduction

Let's be realistic: A few months ago, no one who wasn't already doing so likely thought they would be teaching an online course anytime soon. Well, here we all are. During difficult times, it's sometimes challenging to see outside of ourselves, but as much as we are all trying to figure out how to teach online, our students are also trying to figure out how to learn online. Most of them never thought they would be taking an online course, and many of them chose to come to MacEwan because they prefer face-to-face instruction in small classes.

As instructors, it's our job to do what we reasonably can to design our courses to support our students during these challenging times. There are plenty of small things that you can do that will make a big impact on your students' online experience and that don't necessarily translate to a lot more work. Choosing to do even two or three of these things will likely have a positive impact on your students, their mental health, and their learning.

Remember, no one is expecting perfection here. Do what you can, and be kind to yourself.

Kim

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Discuss ways to manage expectations in online courses.
Discuss ways to enhance virtual presence online.
Discuss ways to reduce transactional distance in online courses.
Identify several strategies to help students to self-regulate in online courses.
Identify several ways to increase accessibility in online courses.
Identify several ways to increase inclusivity in online courses.
Discuss several strategies for maintaining student motivation in online courses.

Activity

Start the communication plan in the course planning template.

Workshop Videos

There are many strategies presented in these videos, and no one expects you to do all of them. Watch the videos and identify two or three strategies that you feel would work for your course, and might provide significant benefits to your students. If you can do more later, or if you teach the course online again, great.

The videos in this section were created with the intention that you progress through all of them, in order.
If you prefer to read this content, the slides were created with that in mind, and can be found in the resource section.
You can make videos full screen by clicking the full screen icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the video.

3.1.mp4

Video 1 - Intro & Managing Expectations [7:16] (Watch with captions)

3.2.mp4

Video 2 - Increasing Virtual Presence [3:59] (Watch with captions)

3.3.mp4

Video 3 - Reducing Transactional Distance [3:36] (Watch with captions)

3.4.mp4

Video 4 - Supporting Self-Regulation [5:47] (Watch with captions)

3.5.mp4

Video 5 - Increasing Accessibility & Inclusivity [3:47] (Watch with captions)

3.6.mp4

Video 6 - Maintaining Motivation Throughout and Summary [4:29] (Watch with captions)

Quick Tips

Work on managing everyone’s expectations (yours and your students').
Increase virtual presence by being visible in your course and building community.
Reduce transactional distance by creating less structure, more dialogue, and more autonomy.
Support student self-regulation with resources for scheduling, organization, social interaction, and self-monitoring.
Increase accessibility and inclusivity.
Support student motivation through flow, agency, student supports, and engaging content.
Aim for 6-10 hours of student work a week.

Resources

Course Planning Resources

Managing Expectations

Brandon Bayne's Adjusted Syllabus
Note: Information on building surveys for students is posted in the Summary section.

Self-Regulation Resources

Online Student Support Services

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