无码专区

ONLINE TEACHING GUIDELINES

Transitioning to an online learning environment is a time-consuming and exacting process. The guidelines presented below were developed to assist faculty in successfully transitioning from in-person to online instruction and assure a high-quality learning experience for our students. They are offered as recommendations for assisting faculty in the preparation, planning, design, and delivery of online courses. These guidelines are built on evidence-based learning principles: engaging students online; providing prompt and targeted feedback; maintaining a supportive learning environment; minimizing cognitive load through the delivery of short segments of information; and clear content organization and communication.

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Getting Started

  • Consult the syllabus of your in-person course (if applicable) and consider how in-person course delivery might work in an online environment:
    • What are the learning goals for the course?
    • How is the course organized?听
    • How is content delivered in person?
    • Are lectures utilized? Discussions? Other learning activities?
    • What assessments are part of the course? Why?
  • Develop your syllabus for online teaching and take steps to convert your in-person courses to online courses (this may be helpful)
  • Consider prioritizing activities with the most preparation time, such as video recording
  • You may choose between two standard customizable Blackboard templates provided by the University 鈥 one that is module-based containing a few navigation links to assist in organizing content, and one that is time-based with a template for each week of course instruction 听
  • Simply replacing every assigned class session with a synchronous (live) session can cause cognitive overload, which may be avoided by replacing some portion of class time with appropriate asynchronous activities
  • Think about how to balance synchronous and asynchronous work by considering the benefits of faculty and peer engagement relative to independent student work
  • Select a default platform to use consistently for synchronous meetings (Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate, or Microsoft Teams), with Zoom working best for large classes and portable devices
  • Try to avoid old technology like Flash which consumes more bandwidth
  • Simplicity is a virtue: utilize two or three online tools or activities that support your learning objectives to give students time and practice with using these tools effectively
  • Online student engagement may be facilitated with instructional activities designed to reinforce foundational knowledge delivered via direct instruction, utilizing techniques like:
    • Assigning short essays on concepts in podcasts
    • Having students watch a recorded lecture with guided questions and discuss in a live session
    • Assigning practice quizzes with follow-up activities directed towards clarification of incorrect responses听
    • Conducting online exercises听that facilitate student interaction
    • Having students record presentations and review their peers鈥 presentations
  • Aim to have essential course materials (including syllabus, activities, and assessments) ready approximately one week before classes start, so students will be able to access them (keep in mind that students can see areas under development once they have access to the course)
  • Consider attending individual and group consultations (as needed) with VITAL and UNIT throughout the course development process

  • Learning goals should drive decisions about how to deliver and structure online course content
  • Consider adding content that includes a variety of engaging and comprehensive sources 鈥 texts, videos recorded by faculty, videos available in the public domain, audio podcasts, etc.
  • Try to organize and present course content in 鈥渃hunks鈥 because small quantities of information are easier to absorb online
  • Consider using Open Educational Resources whenever possible to save students money and meet accessibility requirements ()
  • Make use of tools with accessibility checkers (available in Word, PowerPoint, etc.) to be sure course materials are ADA-compliant and accessible to all students

  • Regular and substantive interaction with students (direct instruction, substantive feedback on assignments, instructor-initiated discussion of material with students) is critical in online education and will foster community
  • Consider posting an introductory course video and a brief personal introduction
  • Consider providing a space for students to introduce themselves, such as in a discussion board or video response format
  • Consider posting a brief (5-10 minute) weekly introductory video or video introductions to course units to highlight key learning objectives and introduce general introductory material
  • Schedule regular virtual live weekly office hours equal in number to the office hours you would hold on campus, and stagger the time of day to accommodate students in other time zones
  • Think about how you can provide multiple ways for students to participate (such as live sessions, chat, discussion boards, and breakout rooms) with clear expectations and guidelines
  • Consider inviting alumni and industry leaders for class discussion where appropriate, to help students feel special and demonstrate the power of the 无码专区 degree
  • Set the Blackboard Announcements听page as the landing page for your course if you are using Blackboard and use Announcements to keep students alert to course updates and weekly work (announcements can be emailed to students as well)
  • Consider adding a discussion board or chat space for students to engage in informal conversation听the way they might chat before or after an in-person class
  • Try to be available before and after live class sessions as your schedule permits, and inform your students accordingly
  • Keep in mind that students may be experiencing stress or trauma from their circumstances during a shutdown or the uncertainties of the pandemic, so check in with them frequently and be as flexible as possible

  • Record video and audio lectures in brief segments (10-15 minutes) and consider interspersing with activities/quizzes that reinforce learning and maintain student focus
  • Professional recording and editing services are available through 无码专区 studios
  • If using the studio is not possible, videos can be recorded on Mediasite, the University鈥檚 supported platform, with minimal background noise and a well-lit recording space.
  • offers screen recording, with the option of including quizzes for greater interactivity and engagement with the material
  • Try to avoid mentioning听dates and making references to听events that 鈥渏ust happened鈥 to extend video life for use in subsequent courses that you are teaching
  • 无码专区 retains recordings directly in Zoom Cloud for 150 days, after which they are saved in a trash folder for an additional 30 days before being deleted unless faculty download and save them to Mediasite
  • If colleagues are teaching different sections of the same course, consider distributing the workload and sharing videos and other content.

  • Virtual instruction cannot replace the entire educational laboratory experience, notably observation and practice, so learning goals should focus on teaching students to:听
    • Propose and design research experiments听
    • Analyze experimental data听
    • Learn by teaching others (perhaps including critical analysis of the scientific literature)
    • Participate virtually in experiential learning to achieve course objectives
  • Be attuned to how to
  • Additional guidance will be provided by each college regarding laboratory and clinical courses

  • Remember to communicate with your students early and often
  • When in doubt, err on the side of more communication
  • When teaching online, more repetition than usual is necessary
  • Remember to communicate your expectations clearly and transparently in the syllabus to help students learn effectively on their own
  • It is advisable to select one communication channel (Blackboard announcements, email) to avoid confusion and be sure to make students aware of how you plan to communicate and how you expect them to communicate
  • Responding to individual student inquiries can be time-consuming, but try to respond promptly (ideally within 24 hours) and adhere to the expectations you set
  • Check-in with students regularly to see how they are managing in social isolation鈥搑emember students may feel overwhelmed working online and/or may lack confidence in their ability to succeed in an online environment

  • Leave sufficient time to set up online assessments before the start of the course
  • Remember to communicate deadlines consistently and clearly
  • Consider creating a course calendar separate from the syllabus as a means of reinforcing due dates/assignments
  • For consistency purposes, it is recommended to have assignments due on the same day of the week, perhaps with an automatic extension (i.e.: due Friday with an automatic extension to Sunday if needed)
  • When announcing due dates, remember to specify Eastern Time to avoid confusion
  • Providing students with a series of ongoing small assignments, or a series of small assignments that build into a big assignment (e.g., research question, literature review, methodology, term paper), can help prevent overload and burnout
  • Varying assignment modes (such as giving students the choice to respond in writing or with audio/video) can deepen student learning and cater to a variety of learning styles
  • Consider including ungraded assignments or practice quizzes to assess how effectively you are communicating course material while providing students with practice assessments in a low-stakes setting
  • If colleagues are teaching different sections of the same course, consider sharing test content to provide a broader variety of questions
  • To minimize the possibility of cheating, consider assignments and assessments that are open book and reflective (such as short answer original essays) or randomized short answer questions from test banks when applicable
  • Be attuned to
  • Please consult supported tools and resources for assignments, assessments and grading

  • External audio and video sources appropriate for conveying subject matter (Ted Talks, the content generated by professional associations, news stories, audio podcasts, 鈥.gov鈥 websites) may be used if they are in the public domain or appropriate
  • Be cognizant of the ratio of third-party video content (YouTube, Ted Talks) to faculty-created content
  • In planning synchronous and asynchronous instruction, review the credit hour policy and consult with your department chair or college for guidelines, keeping in mind that all courses must meet the required instructional hours through a combination of live virtual sessions and instructional equivalent activities
  • Regular and substantive interaction with students in online courses is required by federal law and can be achieved through the use of a variety of different technologies (Zoom/Blackboard Collaborate, chat features, email, blogging), by providing substantive comments on assignments, and by engaging with students to exchange ideas about course topics through regular communication
  • To meet federal requirements, student attendance and participation can be documented on live, virtual sessions (available tools include Blackboard analytics, Zoom participant lists, and Microsoft Teams Insights and meeting attendance lists); while student consent is not needed to record classes in which they are enrolled, faculty should provide students with notice when classes are being recorded (e.g., Zoom provides an on-screen notification to participants when a session is being recorded); faculty should send the Registrar the names of students who stop attending class, their last date of attendance, course number and title
  • Faculty are required to make key instructional materials available to students if they cannot participate in live online sessions; this may include recorded Zoom sessions, recorded video with summaries of key information/concepts, comprehensive slides/handouts, and all supplementary instructional materials
  • To comply with federal law on student identity verification in online courses and to protect student privacy, course content must be accessible only by students with a unique login and password, which is provided by Blackboard; students should be reminded not to share their login credentials or links to online course sessions with others; faculty who have built personal online course websites should ensure that content is protected by a unique login and password 听
  • All course content must meet web accessibility standards, and faculty must continue to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities under university policies and procedures.
  • Creators of reusable teaching and classroom materials shall continue to own those materials unless they are subject to a prior agreement governing their ownership and/or are specifically funded as a University Sponsored Work, as further detailed in the Intellectual Property Policy

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Task Force

The task force members who developed these guidelines are listed below. Deans and Faculty Congress submitted feedback for the final document.

  • Gabriele Bauer, Director, VITAL
  • Valentina DeNardis, Director of Classical Studies
  • Kevin Donahue, Assistant Vice President, Instructional Technologies
  • Kristy Irwin, Assistant Vice Provost, Online Programs
  • Matthew Kerbel, Interim Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning (chair)
  • Crystal Lucky, Associate Dean of Baccalaureate Studies, CLAS
  • Bette Mariani, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, FCN
  • Christine Palus, Dean, College of Professional Studies
  • Julie Pirsch, Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning, VSB
  • Barry Selinsky, Associate Dean for Research, CLAS
  • Andrea Welker, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, COE
  • Emory Woodard, Dean of Graduate Studies, CLAS

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Quick Links

Preparation, Planning and Course Design

Course Content

Facilitating Live Sessions

Recording Original Content

Lab听Courses

Assignments, Testing and Evaluations

Legal and Policy Requirements

Training Sessions

Tolentine Hall, Room 103
800 Lancaster Avenue
无码专区, PA 19085

Phone: 610.519.4520