Top 10 Things to Implement when Switching to Online Course Delivery

This article was created to help those educational institutions that are having to rapidly switch to online course delivery. Many universities and K-12 schools are switching to online course delivery (online learning) to comply with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mitigation recommendation of “social distancing” (actively reducing contact/physical interactions with others) to help combat the spread of the COVID-19, Coronavirus (CDC, 2020). I write this article in that although many schools already use the Internet for parts of their coursework or have a distance education department, many schools are not fully prepared for the magnitude of switching all courses online. Additionally, this is all being done very quickly without adequate time to fully train all instructors on the difference and intricacies of teaching online. Hopefully, this top 10 list will help address some of the more important issues.

1. Always think about your students’ point of view. I’m sure that some instructors (especially those who haven’t instructed online before) are a bit anxious/overwhelmed. The same is happening for students as well. Instructors and school institutions need to be sure to coordinate their efforts so that everyone isn’t doing something different, making it more difficult for the students (remember to be student-centered / learning-centered). Remember that the student wants to focus on learning the material and the thinking process; they don’t want to be stressing out over learning how to navigate multiple different courses or a bunch of new online learning tools. Therefore, teachers and schools need to work together to make the experience as good as possible for the students through easy usability and constancy across courses.

2. Use as much scaffolding as needed. The educational term of scaffolding refers to additional support that some students might need in order to succeed in the class. Create short instructional videos on how to use the online tools you will be utilizing in your online course delivery. Make these videos easy for students to view as many times as they need to watch them so that they fully understand. Also, make one-page digital handouts so students can print it out and refer to them if needed, to better succeed in the course. I would also recommend a dedicated message board post section where students can submit questions. Monitor this forum but allow and encourage other students to answer; learning from peers is a powerful thing and will help to alleviate some of the work on your shoulders dealing with everyday type questions (just be sure to monitor to ensure the information is correct).

3. Chunk your video. Video is a great tool for instruction but use it properly. Do not simply record an hour’s worth of your class instruction and then throw it up on the internet to replicate the in-class experience; it just doesn’t work that way. Online instruction needs to be as clear as possible and properly segmented into manageable short videos. This is often referred to as chunking. Keep your videos between 6 to 15 minutes to maximize student attention/engagement and better organize the information (Anders, 2019).

4. Do not forget about Instructional Presence. An important aspect of online instruction that often gets overlooked is that of instructional presence.If all students needed to develop, learn, and retain was just a bunch of data and information, then simply giving them a book would be enough. But for truly impactful, transformative learning, instructional presence needs to be implemented that addresses social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence as described within the Community of Inquiry Model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 1999). Students need to feel that they are more than just a number. They need to feel like part of a motivating, engaging, and safe learning community where everyone is free to learn from one another and the instructor is a real organized person who is genuinely trying to help them succeed (Moore, 2016; Anders, 2017).

5. Be effective on video and expect the same from your students. Ensure that when you are video capturing yourself you do so in a quiet environment (use an external microphone if possible) and that there is proper/good lighting so that your students can fully hear and see you. In the same way, expect (require) these same things from your students so that all can fully understand and learn from one another (students deserve high quality).

6. Use a mix of live, synchronous video (like videoconferencing) and asynchronous video (pre-recorded video) for the best learning effect. Use live video tools such as Zoom (https://zoom.us) to instruct/discuss with students in real-time. This also allows students to ask questions as well as give presentations in real-time. Some content will be better served via a pre-recorded video of instruction that students can view (multiple times if need be) before answering questions or doing an assignment.

7. Work to create closed captions for your videos. Research has shown that many students, not just those with a disability, use closed captions to better understand video content. (Anders, 2017):

8. Be sure to know how your students are accessing the learning material. Having quickly switched to online learning, many instructors haven’t put out recommendations or requirements for accessing the learning material. Are your students viewing the class through a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone? How good is their internet connection?This is yet another reason to better organize your content to create shorter videos (chunking) to make it easier for students accessing the course via smartphone and/or on slower internet connections (this also helps prevent cognitive overload).

9. Seek to maximize engagement in multiple ways. Do not forget about the need for engagement and experiential learning in your online course. A good course is more than just lecturing/presenting information and then giving a test. Effective online learning is about engaging students through discussion through tools such as live videoconferencing or message boards/forums. It is about not just talking or reading about something, but using impactful audio/video clips, photos, and/or infographics to really make the instruction come to life through an emotional connection (use clips from websites such as YouTube and Ted Talks) . Effective online learning is about personalizing assignments in asking students to reflect on the material and see how it directly relates to their experiences and thoughts. It is also very much about doing!

Empowering students to create content using creative critical thinking skills is a high-level process that can be accomplished online through student-created videos, live videoconferencing presentations, student-made infographics, and many other possibilities. Also, consider the use of online educational games to enhance students’ interaction with the learning content. The more that students can physically/mentally do with the content, the better it will be learned, understood, and retained (Anders, 2019).

10. Motivation is always key. Students need motivation both in face-to-face and especially in online learning environments. Be supportive and forgiving as you ask your students to do more and more online due to this coronavirus situation as well as online learning in the future. Let them know that they can do it and that through their hard effort they can succeed; students need a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset in order to succeed (Dweck, 1986). Additionally, be sure that students fully understand the relevancy of what is being learned and why it is being learned this way. Be explicit in informing them that this material is specifically important to them because of X (you could also ask them how this information might be important to them now and in the future). A good technique is to show videos or videoconference in past students that have since graduated or are senior students that can express firsthand how the information being learned is relevant and important for success.

I hope this helps, and remember, we are all in this together. Speaking of which, do you have any additional tips that you would like to share with other readers? If so, please post a comment below, thank you.

Reference

Anders, B. A. (2017). How closed captioning is beneficial for all students. International Symposium for Innovative Teaching and Learning at Kansas State University. http://sovorelpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Closed-Captioning-Benefits-infographic.png

Anders, B. (2017). How to enhance instructional presence: Research & experience based techniques to improve both online & face-to-face instruction. Sovorel Publishing Company.

Anders, B. (2019). The Army Learning Concept, Army Learning Model: A guide to understanding and implementation. Emporia, KS: Sovorel Publishing.

CDC. (2020, March 12). Implementation of mitigation strategies for communities with local COVID-19 transmission. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/community-mitigation-strategy.pdf  

Dweck, C.S. (1986). Motivational processes affecting learning. American Psychologist, 41, 1040- 1048.

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2), 87-105.

Moore, R. L. (2016). Interacting at a distance: creating engagement in online learning environments. In L. Kyei-Blankson, J. Blankson, E. Ntulli, & C. Agyeman (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Strategic Management of Interaction, Presence, and Participation in Online Courses (pp. 401–425). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Available at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/stemps_fac_pubs/95/.