Getting Started

Moving your class online in a hurry will be daunting. Here are some resources to get you started.

Standford 'Teach Anywhere' has some best practices to consider when planning out the rest of your term. See their whole guide at https://teachanywhere.stanford.edu/best-practices. As many programs in the health sciences don't end at the beginning of April, there may be some longer term considerations for how you lay out your course, these best practices have some advice for this longer term process. (In the guide: the equivalent to Canvas is UMLearn, and webinar software in UMLearn for Stanford's Zoom is WebEx).

At the bottom of this page is a practical resource to help you get started with moving instruction to a virtual environment. You can click on the link to download it.

To get started, here's a broad checklist from Michelle Miller's Going online in a hurry: What to do and where to start (2020):

1. Go over your course assignments for the coming weeks. Are they accessible online (through UMLearn or Entrada)? Is it clear how students will turn in work? Do you need to change a deadline?

2. How will you give feedback to students about their progress?

• Consider collaboration tools (such as google drive, microsoft teams...) where you and students can interact.

• Can you make quizzes, or discussion forums to provide feedback?

3. Then, consider the in-class experience. What do you normally use your class time for? If it is for sharing information, checking for understanding, and/or solving problems? Miller suggests you think about the purpose of the class time when considering what you will do to 'replace' it online. This will help you decide if you need something synchronous (e.g. using Zoom or WebEx) or asynchronous (e.g. voice over powerpoint or articulate storyline).

4. Decide what your going to do for exams and other high stakes assessments. Focus on concepts of mastery learning. How will you assess whether the students have mastered the content versus memorized facts?

5. Consider what course materials are needed. You likely already have most of what you need, you might need to make some accessible on UMLearn or Entrada. You may need to add some content to any powerpoints that you would have normally 'spoken to' in a lecture. Consider using the speaker notes section of the powerpoint slides - if you do, let your students know that it is there!

6. Once you've have a plan in place for these, communicate it to students. And communicate regularly with them during the crisis.

One thing to add to this list - don't do this all in isolation. Talk to your colleagues... both at UofM, and across Canada. We're all facing the same challenges. We can learn from each other.

• Crowd source resources

• Share what is working and what isn't

• Let your students know that this is disruption! Use it as a teaching moment, about flexibility needed for those working in the health sciences!

But most of all, give yourself permission to be fallible. Mistakes will be made. It's okay. We're all learning.

Miller, M. (March 9,2020). Going online in a hurry: What to do and where to start. The Chronicle of Higher Education.