Teaching Online: A Relatively Smooth Transition

Teaching Online: A Relatively Smooth Transition

Andrew Innes

Mukogawa Women's University and Dokkyo University

In this video, I discuss the following points:

1. How the concept of transactional distance can serve as a useful heuristic when planning online classes, and how this extends to the online platform Flipgrid.

2. The thorny question of whether to allow students to have their cameras off during online classes (which could empower less confident/shy students), or to persuade/coerce them to keep them turned on through incentives such as making it a prerequisite for attendance (and encourage paralinguistic behaviour).

3. Why we should consider allowing the use of avatars in student presentations.

4. How breakout rooms can serve to foster a more social and collaborative experience for students to motivate them to stay invested in their classes, forge friendships, and elicit scaffolding.

5. How automated marking on mini-quizzes can save the teacher time when focusing on objectively graded activities, determine whether students are engaged in the curriculum, and provide a way to hear natural English from the teacher.