Thoughts about teaching online

Thoughts from Jim Albert:

At a minimum, I'd suggest posting some slides such as powerpoint that provide the main ideas and some worked out examples. For my MATH 3410 class, I am starting to prepare some html slides -- I've attached one file that I just created from R Markdown.
I like to provide some feedback each week -- what is important and provide guidance on potential pitfalls. I have a YouTube channel where I have posted videos that I created using Camtasia. Here's my channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/bayesball2/videos?view_as=subscriber. On a mac, you can use Quicktime to provide screen recordings, video, or audio. In Canvas, you can actually create recordings in Pages.
I haven't been successful in getting good discussion in my online courses. But I might try for Wednesday's class when I typically go over difficult exercises.

Thoughts from Kim Rogers:

It takes a lot of work to create a high-quality distance-learning course. And asking students to suddenly take ALL their courses in this format, at the same time, will be quite a steep learning curve for both the instructor and the students.
I encourage my students to keep a clear schedule where they are blocking out specific days and times for the online course—so I am not sure if the math & stats faculty will plan to try and conduct their class meetings asynchronously or synchronously or some combination over the 2+weeks classes are taught online. But if they do more asynchronous work, they might consider having their virtual office hours or some planned discussions during the time of day the in-person class would have normally taken place. That might help students schedule in time for that specific course.
What mediums will faculty use? Canvas’s conferences feature, WebEx, Camtasia, Other? Camtasia is great (if they can get ITS to remotely install it on their computers ASAP), and is not too steep of a learning curve. But whatever way they create screen recordings with voice overs, typically the ideal length of such recordings is only 5-10mins total. If they are longer than this, then materials like “handouts” or guided notes or really well-organized slides, and whenever possible a script/transcript for the students should be provided. And in videos of mine that are longer than 10mins, I also build in specific pauses and points where the students are expected to engage with the material, try to solve a problem or answer a question for themselves before continuing. No matter the length of a video/screencast, it is hard to create them well without a really clear script for the presenter. Without a precise script, the videos are likely to feel unorganized and include a lot of filler words or what seems like rambling to students. I have found structuring a video or learning experience in an online format around 1 or 2 precise measurable learning goals to be the key. So if a video is created with the goal that “students will be able to use algebra to determine derivatives of trig functions” the example or two I walk through before giving strategic pauses for students to try the next couple on their own before I continue explaining it are all centered around that goal. Then a short follow up video relating the algebraic work to graphical representations would be a different goal and video.
Practically, creating good videos or screen casts is hard just because of how the cameras can work differently on our devices and with different programs and apps. So some students have tried making presentations where they just record themselves writing on a chalkboard/whiteboard, but some programs/cameras flip everything so it would not be possible for the viewer to even read what was written on the board. Or if the flipping is not an issue, the person working at the board often needs to have a lot more written up there before recording because it is much easier to “block” the camera’s view for long periods of time. So pointing at and annotating board work would work much better in that scenario. For these reasons, having some nice guided notes on a desktop and using a screen capture method with voice overs and annotations appearing on the notes/slides is likely more effective and efficient. Depending on the internet speed of the faculty members and the students, sometimes the whiteboard in Canvas’s conferences or on WebEx can have a substantial LAG that gets really annoying. So practicing this feature or creating some things while using the campus internet might be wise.
For courses that are coordinated (Intro Stat, PreCalc, Calc I…) I wonder if it would be helpful for coordinators to be providing the screen recordings and more explicit guidance for grad students. Not that screen recordings will be the only things provided over the next couple of weeks, but it would likely help provide some uniformity for the online versions of these coordinated courses.
To speak to Jim’s point a bit, about good discussions: there is a “polling” feature in WebEx if you are using the desktop app (it is disabled in the mobile version for some reason) that could help get feedback or input from all students in the virtual session. Based on their responses specific people could be called on or smaller breakout groups could be created. I believe in WebEx the “chat” feature can be set up so that people can chat directly with one or a small group of people, which could allow students to talk in smaller groups which might encourage the overall discussion. Having different students work on different problems and then present their ideas to the rest of the virtual class might be nice, but you’d want to clearly lay out if the students should have their video enabled when they are speaking or not. If a number of students have ideas or questions, calling on each person or typing a list that is shared on the screen for everyone to see can help so the instructor asks people in a specific order.
Consistency is key. Students really like when things are due the same day of the week and time. Having due dates and times that are all over the place is the most confusing (and easily avoidable) feature of a distance learning course. This does not mean you cannot have multiple things expected in a single week, but having them “turn in” or “post” something by a certain time on Tuesdays for instance and then expecting them to respond to a classmate’s post or paper or something by a certain time on Thursdays could be a clear expectation. Then, if there are synchronous meetings making it clear how many they are expected to attend. You might even consider posting a mock schedule – what you would expect a students’ week to look like if they blocked out time to do the asynchronous stuff and attend any synchronous things and meet expected deadlines. Be really clear if any late work will be accepted up front. For synchronous meetings, build in time for technical difficulties on the instructor and students’ ends. And link to “help” guides from canvas or WebEx regarding the general features of a program being used to guide students.

Thoughts from Michael Brooks, a History professor at BGSU:

Below are some ideas I shared with my History Department colleagues yesterday. As a veteran of several last-minute online course creations (last-minute is never the best way to do anything, let alone course creation) a few quick pieces of advice:
Emphasize what you already do well: for example, if you have never created videos before, this might not be the best time to teach yourself new technologies or platforms. Besides, your face-to-face students have already had 6-7 weeks to get to know you, so videos are less important in building a relationship that already exists.
Clarity is especially important: students do not have the ability to ask you impromptu questions like in a face-to-face class (yes, they can email you, but for many students emailing instructors is still somewhat intimidating). Err on the side of over-explaining things, and keep specialist jargon to a minimum, unless you provide quick definitions: “Brooks trembled with fear when he saw the R₀(reproduction rate) and the CFR (case fatality rate) of the novel Coronavirus.” You will not have the same ability in an online class to read the room and sense when there is confusion over jargon and specialized language.
More frequent communication is expected in online classes: again, they are not sitting in a classroom with you, so they need more points of contact via classroom announcements, emails, podcasts, or other modes of connection.
Answer emails faster than you normally would: in a face-to-face class, students have the luxury of asking questions before class, after class, during class, walking from class, and so on. Online students tend to expect responses within 8-12 hours (i.e., by next morning for an evening email, by the end of the day for a morning email). They highly appreciate rapid response to emails.
Peer learning is valuable, even if it does not seem especially sophisticated: struggling students look up to stronger students and model their efforts, while even the weakest student is capable of profound insights once in a while. Discussion forums, group projects, and peer review are powerful ways for students to learn from each other, even if to our own eyes as subject matter experts, it might not seem that way.
Keep things simple: a weekly discussion and readings quiz for assessment, and provide some basic supplemental content (PowerPoints uploaded, linked videos). Only use what you can figure out quickly, as you can get bogged down with trying to learn lots of new platforms and apps.
Make use of existing mass-produced materials rather than trying to reinvent the proverbial wheel: I love some of the Crash Course video series for survey-level topics. They are generally well-designed, entertaining, and freely available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse
Avoid trying to make an exact copy of your face-to-face course: this will never happen. Instead, recognize the “distance” in distance learning and keep that in mind with everything you design.
Be honest with your students and acknowledge this is new to you: they will be very forgiving if you show that you are willing to adapt if you make a mistake. Similarly, this will be new for some students as well: I have had more than a few students tell me that they have never taken an online class before.
See if others in your field are sharing ideas on social media: #Twitterstorians are very busy right now fielding these same questions, and I suspect the same is true of other fields (I follow about 50 interesting historians on Twitter). Join a thread, post questions, and join in the mass frenzy of academics across the planet who are in the same position as you.