Author: José Manuel Cotilla Conceição

Checklist to migrate your course online.

Education is experiencing rapid change. In a matter of days, we were forced to move into a full-online programme. From small to large institutions. A big challenge that will reshape the concept of teaching and learning in history. Time constriction is one of our biggest problems. This article will help you create a check-list from how to communicate to students, to transform your course into a dynamic digital-ready programme. You will find a long list of resources and activities to incorporate in any sort of teaching subject.

Also, a FREE printable checklist is available at the end of this article.

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Communication with students

Communication is essential in our regular daily-life with students. We need to assure that also happens in an online environment. Among your goals, is to ensure clear communication regarding expectations, schedules, timetables, procedures, assignments and formative assessment.

Consider the following points:

• Set expectations: Decide on how, when and how often you want to communicate with your students. Create a list of individual and group responsibilities that you expect them to adhere in order to succeed in the programme. Inform them accordingly. Give them heads-up to activate notifications in case they have not enabled this option in their devices.
• Establish one communication platform: There are several tools that can connect us to our students. You must decide on which platform you want your students to consider as the first point of contact. I use Blackboard; but you have other options in the market as Brightspace, Canvas, among other solutions. Decide which one you want to keep as the centre of everything you do and communicate it to students. This step is vital. On a later stage, you will need to incorporate other ICT tools for specific needs. By clearing out this point, you will minimise further misunderstandings.
• Communicate regularly: One of the things I have learned from customer service is that, ten seconds of silence on the telephone, fèel like a minute for the client. A prolonged silence from our side can make our students feel anxious and insecure about their study progress and easily fall off the tracks. Be transparent. Inform your students about any changes or potential issues as quickly as possible. Tell them when to expect more information.
• Manage your communications load efficiently: In online learning, you will experience a large number of questions from your students. They might come via e-mail, through the platform you use, or any other channel. Some of those questions will be repeated. Consider creating a shared file where students can place their questions. I use, within Microsoft Teams, a shared Excel file where students can drop the questions and I respond. Everybody can access it and see what has been asked and responded. You can check it once or twice a day. This reduced my workload from almost a hundred emails a week, to a couple of responses.

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Keep them engaged with a mixed pool of material

Diversity is our strength. In any ambit. To ensure a good learning success rate we must ensure engagement. The way to go follows the principle of blended learning: pre-work, main session, follow-up tasks. By creating a microcosmos for each learning unit with different didactic forms, you are splitting into smaller and more accessible parts the same content you would cover in person in one session of traditional learning. Another way to improve the learning experience is by giving a wide variety of activities to escape monotony.

Pre-work examples:

• Ice Breakers
• Article Critiques
• Self-evaluation tests
• Videos (e.g.: TED talks, instructional videos, tutorials, Youtube, etc.)
• Scavenger hunt activity.
• Self-made videos (Introduction to the topic, assignments)
• Assignments (Case Studies & Case-Based Instruction, Concept Mapping, story mapping, Document Analysis, compare and contrast, Brainstorming, Literature Review, etc.)
• Flip the classroom (Pre-work for the students)
• Audio Recordings (Includes Podcasting)
• Quizzing

Main session:

• Online streaming session.
• Pre-recorded video (e.g.: Instructional, lecture, etc.)
• Narrated PowerPoint.
• Fishbowl
• Flip the classroom (The students deliver the main content)
• Presentations
• Q&A Session
• Debate
• Procedural Demonstration (Perform a given action)
• Quizzing

Follow-up activities:

• Case study.
• Peer Editing / Review.
• Role-play (e.g.: Interviews, simulations, resolve a case in the video, etc)
• Paper (e.g.: Essays, report, reflection, etc.)
• Portfolios
• Infographic.
• Blogging
• Review (Play, Movie, Audio, Book, etc.)

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Deliver lectures

Keep it simple.
There are several tools available in the market. The Top 3 are Zoom, WebEx and Microsoft Teams. All of them are fully functional with their free version. So, there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

• Zoom: Streaming live, record video, share screen or apps between users, whiteboard, draw, annotate, allows larger groups, divide the members into smaller groups within the same session, integration with LMS, mute-all options, among others.
  Useful links:
  Download the program.
  A full tutorial in one video for teachers.
  Instructional short clips for teachers.
• WeBex: The same functionalities as zoom. In my opinion, it is less user friendly and it does not have as many tutorials available on their website. That being said, it is a powerful tool on the same level as Zoom.
  Useful links:
  Download the program.
  A full tutorial for teachers.
• Microsoft Teams: Microsoft is entering the world of remote teaching with a quickly-expanding programme. Teams, incorporates the best of the Office 365 suite in one platform, enabling working together. When it comes to teaching online, it has more limitations than the previous ones: Whiteboard, attendance, and other “basic options” are only available with plug-ins. Breakout rooms (split your big group into small project teams, is not an option at all. If you need a simple and basic tool to bring everybody together, stream basic sessions, share your screen/app while having all the files gathered in one place, this might be a suitable solution for you.
  Useful links:
  Download the program.
  Instructional short clips for teachers.

Tips when recording your lessons:

• Disable the HD -high definition- resolution. If you observe the video or sound glitching, lagging or some of your students have problems with the connection, lower the quality of your streaming and video.
• Microlearning. Keep the pre-recorded sessions short. 3–9 minutes maximum. Create a play-list with short videos. It will be easier for you to record it as a lecturer and easier for your students to retain and understand the content.
• Live-sessions mainly for Q&A. Maximum of 30 minutes.
• Save the session. Make it available right after the session. It is an excellent resource to solve questions and evoke reflection. Why repeating yourself?

How to improve the quality of your webinars and/or live-sessions:

• Use two screens: One screen to interact with your students (e.g.: share presentation, use the whiteboard, collaborate in the same document, etc.), while the second one can be privately used for your notes, structure, additional documents, among others.
• Invest in a good headset: Your most powerful tool in these sessions is your voice. It is important that your voice is clear, the background noise is buffered and you also can listen perfectly to your students.
• A quiet environment: Choose a quiet room. Especially, when working from home, external noise can leak through the microphone. Choose strategically which room is more isolated from people on the same house, taking into account neighbours but also the noise coming from outside.
• Lights-camera-action!: Light! Most of the built-in cameras do not have the best quality. When we do not have a shining sun to support us, we can help improve their performance by placing some lamps or other light next o the cam. The light shall not blind you, but rather be diagonal to you. Play around it until you feel the picture is bright and clear enough. Also, the position of the camera is important. Place it not too near, not to close to your face. A higher position is better than a lower one. Double-chin anyone? So, a tip when using a laptop: you can place a few books under the computer to lift it and get a better perspective with the built-in camera.

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Encourage the connection and collaboration among students

It is important to maintain the community spirit. Communication and collaboration between students are as important as how we communicate with them. It will not only help to raise engagement but also keep them motivated, encourage them to go the extra mile and improve their learning experience. In order to achieve it, take into account the following points:

• Focus on pre-work and follow-up activities (the list is above).
• Accountability. Keep attendance, set clear guidelines and deadlines or make presentations as part of the final assessment. Students need to be accountable for the work.
• Always explain the programme learning outcomes. It is important for students to understand the purpose of a specific assignment. It will not only raise engagement but also a sense of purpose, improving motivation.
• Ask for their input. Involve your students in the process. Not only they will feel owners of their learning process but also make them reflect on what could be a suitable and attractive assignment for a specific module. It is a win-win situation for both parties.

Submitting assignments

Despite most of the assignments nowadays are submitted digitally, there are certain points to have into account when fully migrating your course to online education. These tips, not only will help you centralise the submissions but also reduce your workload and simplify the process for students.

• Choose a platform, and stick to it. Do you have an LMS (learning management system)? Maintain it as a central point of everything you use. I use Blackboard. Any official submission will be done through that platform.
• Use anti-plagiarism tools. Euphorus has a good integration in Blackboard. There are several in the market. They will support you assessing how original and developed are the submissions of your students.
• No e-mails. I am sure you do not only teach to one group or one course. E-mails can quickly multiply and keep you from supporting your students efficiently by being dragged into pure administrative work. Promote peer-review. I use FeedbackFruits and Microsoft Teams for this purpose. While FeedbackFruits is integrated into Blackboard, in Microsoft Teams we can also create collaborative work through specific channels.
• Clear expectations and flexible for exceptions: Personal and technical issues will pop up along the way. Have that in mind while creating your “Action-Plan A”, but allow flexibility in case you need to pull off “Action-Plan B” (or C).
• Require specific filenames: While it sounds simple, it can save you time. When a course is being instructed by several lecturers, you might need to divide the submissions throughout the pool of assessors. By having the same file structure name, you will be able to sort them out by name/surname and locate which ones belong to you and which ones to your peers.

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Assessment

Going a hundred per cent into online education will challenge the way we assess our students. Traditional exams will probably be out of questions. So, what do you do? Do you postpone all your summative exams or do you find an alternative?

Not all the assessments can be shifted into different assignments, but certainly, a great part of them can. These are my tips for formative and summative assessments:

Examples

• Multiple-choice exam? Use Google Forms. A quick way to create a self-graded test, very useful for formative assessments. Tutorial available here.
• Open-questions? Google Forms is also a good solution for that. Tutorial available here.
• Discussions/debates. Via Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
• Projects.
• Case-studies.
• Games. Edumundo has a number of games for different types of academies. Interactive management simulations and business games result in more student engagement, increasing their learning experience.
• Reflection papers
• Essays.
• Infographics. Canva is the most accessible, easiest and cheap solution for students.
• Videos.
• ePortfolios. Canva is a great platform for creative work in a collaborative environment.
• Presentations. Canva, Powerpoint, Prezi or KeyNote.

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Are you ready?

I have one extra thing to help you: a FREE printable checklist.

After contrasting and comparing several online learning checklists, I have come up with the one that compiles the essentials that you can find throughout this manual.

Be bold. Be creative. Be successful.

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