Taking Your Classroom Online: How to Re-Design Your Course for Remote Teaching

In just a few short weeks, COVID-19 changed our world, launching new ways of thinking, new ways of coping, new ways of living.

Educators were suddenly hurled into an altered landscape, adapting as quickly as they could to ensure continuity and foster positive outcomes. They had to learn how to teach beyond the classroom. How to use the myriad tools of technology. How to encourage students who may feel isolated and anxious.

Making the Leap

Remote teaching demands a conversion from the classroom to the computer, but it is not to be confused with online courses, which can take many weeks to develop. Remote teaching is an in-transition modality that attempts to replicate the in-class activities and moments in the online space.

However, it requires a different approach to course preparation: finding the best technologies; revising content and delivery; connecting with students in a virtual environment.

With over 20 years of experience as an instructional designer, trainer, lecturer and university professor, Juan Mavo-Navarro helps post-secondary faculty bridge the gap between in-class and online teaching. You can watch his recent webinar on Course Design Strategy for Remote Teaching below:

Choosing the Tools

Technology opens the door to shifting your classroom to the cloud. You can still provide thought-provoking content aligned to the curriculum, but it will need some tweaking for online delivery.

Today’s digital environment has produced tools that are both convenient and effective. Rather than sending revised versions of PowerPoint presentations by email, for instance, keep your content current through a shared system, like a Learning Management System. There are numerous user-friendly systems available: Blackboard, Brightspace, and Canvas, just to name a few. A centralized structure lets students easily locate the handouts, assignments, and reference materials. And it is also easier for educators to update.

Planning the Program

The key objective of educators has always been to reach and teach their students. But remote teaching involves changes in content organization, communication methods, and student activities.

Content Organization

Students respond to content that is up-to-date, stimulating, and well organized; but distance learning magnifies the scope of the task.

Clearly defining your content’s organization will give students confidence in their ability to handle it. Whether it’s organized by week, by subject, or by unit, lay it out in a logical sequence, identifying specific materials as either mandatory, recommended, or optional.

Offer different experiences by switching up the format: consider videos, podcasts, or links to external resources and tools. You can also substitute PDF handouts with templates in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for students to modify for their own use.

Support students in managing complex topics through instructional scaffolding: deconstruct your content and present it in various ways, such as guided exploration, case studies, or graphic organizers. As the students become more comfortable with remote learning, they will gradually become more self-reliant.

Communication Methods

The loss of campus life has dealt a severe blow to both students and faculty. Social interactions have traditionally been the way to meet each other, examine issues, make decisions – in short, to become part of a community.

In the digital age, online chats and discussion boards facilitate virtual kinship. Educators can lead the way by connecting students with each other, moderating debates, and creating activities.

Student Activities

How can you tell if your students are paying attention or furtively checking their social networks? Keep them focused through activities with real-time feedback. You want to promote a dialogue, not a monologue: a conversation rather than a lecture.

Inspire participation and boost a spirit of collegiality by strategizing your live webinars. For instance, pre-record your lectures through visual platforms such as SnagIt, Blackboard Collaborate, or Camtasia, and tell your students to review it. Then load up your webinar with interactive activities.

You can set up breakout groups through video conferencing tools like Webex, GoToMeeting, Zoom, or BlueJeans. Assign a tricky question and ask each group to formulate their responses within a time limit. Highlight contributions that are exceptionally insightful or controversial.

Run a poll after each section of your content to monitor your students’ understanding of the material. Add quick quizzes or multiple-choice questions. Invite a deeper dive by ending the webinar with a Q&A session. Use back channels throughout for idea-sharing, and ask the students to vote for the topic that they found the most problematic.

Connecting with Students

Most importantly, and most challenging in an online environment, get to know your students!

Make yourself available by email, and find out what their expectations and goals are … and how they are feeling. Some of them may be coping with difficult circumstances: relatives who are ill; an overwhelming sense of loneliness; home environments that aren’t amenable to online studies.

Start the course with a welcoming message, then follow it up with brief announcements reminding them of upcoming events and due dates, along with bulleted checklists of weekly tasks.

It’s important to make sure that they are – or can become – familiar with the technologies you’ve selected. An interesting tactic is to organize a scavenger hunt; for instance, make a list asking them to send screenshots of the discussion board, the content for the first module, the rubric for the initial assignment. Not only does this assure you that they can navigate the platforms, but it also connects them with you by email right from the start.

And, finally, remember that teachers can always be learners: survey your students for suggestions on ways to further improve the experience.

The adversities of COVID-19 may well be an opportunity in disguise, as educators sharpen their focus on diverse content and student interaction. When the classrooms re-open, you may find that this unique exercise has fueled fresh insights, offering unexpected rewards as you adopt a new perspective on the art of course design.