Getting Started

How to get started with online learning

The most important thing to know about online learning is that you can't move your face-to-face lessons to an online format. You have to transform them. The good news is you will use a similar process that you used for classroom instruction, you will just use different tools for learning. Here are the steps for overnight online instructional design.


  1. Choose the critical content your students need for the time you are teaching online. You should not offer anything extraneous, only that content necessary to complete the course.
  2. Evaluate your standards. Much like your face-to-face instruction, you will start with the end in mind (Performance Indicator). "What do my students need to be able to do to show me they understand the concepts or skills I am teaching?" Answer this question with a an online product that shows the evidence of understanding and the thinking required to meet your standards. If your curriculum includes performance indicators, transform them to online products. For example:
        1. Biology 4C: Compare the structures of viruses to cells, describe viral reproduction, and describe the role of viruses in causing diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and influenza.
        2. Original Performance Indicator: Design a model of a virus, a prokaryotic cell, and a eukaryotic cell, and create a graphic organizer to compare and contrast these three structures.
        3. Online Learning Performance Indicator: Create a video using Screencastify to describe a model of a virus, a prokaryotic cell, and a eukaryotic cell. Create a graphic organizer using Storyboard That https://www.storyboardthat.com/ to compare and contrast these three cell structures.
  3. Design your instruction and formative assessment. Now you know where the students are going, you can add the instruction and resources they will need to get there. For example:
        1. Students will watch the unit on viruses at Kahn Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/biology-of-viruses
        2. Students will meet with you for a question and answer session during a set time using Zoom.
        3. Students will create a model of a virus using online tools:
              1. ScupltGL http://stephaneginier.com/sculptgl/
              2. Google Draw https://docs.google.com/drawings/
        4. Assess students models and give them meaningful feedback before they move to the next step.
        5. Students will create a Screencastify to describe the model.
        6. Assess students Screencastify and ask at least two clarifying questions for them to answer.
        7. Students will create a graphic organizer using Storyboard That https://www.storyboardthat.com/ to compare the three cell structures.
        8. Assess students graphic organizers and have them revise with feedback.
        9. Have another question and answer session and review during a set time using Zoom.
        10. Have students complete a review on Quizlet https://quizlet.com/
  4. Assess students understanding. For example: Test students using Google Forms.