Lessons Learned about Remote/Online Teaching

I spent the spring and summer of 2020 doing a conference, webinars, readings, videos, etc. about teaching online/remotely.

In no particular order, here’s what I’ve been learning.

The hardest thing for students is motivation. See the report by Every Learner Everywhere on students surveyed about Spring 2020 courses.
The most important thing for teachers is engagement. See pp 14-15 in the report above. Using more strategies for engagement = higher student satisfaction. Which should translate to higher motivation.
The second most important thing for teachers is authentic engagement–be yourself.
Maximum of 4 or 5 students in a breakout room.
Have some easy wins early on to build confidence.
If using zoom for office hours, enable the “waiting room” function so you can be private with a student until you choose to let someone else in.
There are a lot of whiteboard apps.

Don’t use technology just because it’s shiny. Ask yourself what problem it solves. If it’s not the best solution to a problem, skip it. You can add shiny later. I made some fun avatars and have set them aside.
Don’t make beautiful, professional videos–be yourself. It makes students less afraid of posting their own videos and enhances their connection to you.
Have a FAQ page on your LMS.
Check for accommodations needed right away. Then if you have to have captioning as you go, you’ll know. Same with alt text and other UDL features. Put in what you have to right away, then add more each time you teach.
From colleagues, I hear that week-by-week modules are their preferences. I’m going to try it.
Have a set weekly schedule: labs on Thursday, quizzes on Tuesday, etc. Be consistent as much as possible.

Be kind to yourself.
Try a first assignment of a short introduction video, and do one yourself as an example.
Short videos–no more than 10 minutes for introducing content. (Though my examples of problem solving tend to be 15-20 mins.)
YouTube will auto-caption videos for you. (I will try this, and yes, I’m nervous about it.)
If you can, make a special discussion for anonymous questions/postings. I am probably going to install Piazza solely for this, since Canvas can’t do anonymous.

Try for a variety of types of coverage of content: readings, videos, discussions.
Discussion forums need to have your input. Not necessarily daily, but at least a few times a week.
No one has an answer to the cheating problem for assessing student work, but the best thing to do is just trust in students’ integrity and not worry about it.
Consider re-naming Office Hours to something more friendly, less intimidating. I’m considering “Physics Hour” or “Afternoon Tea”. Could be a good excuse to wear my fancy hats!
Build in lots of structure. It’s not handholding–it’s necessary support.
Access and equity are things to think through as you build a course.

Consider audio feedback instead of written feedback.
If possible, have feedback refer to where the student should look for help (Lecture 5.1 at 08:39).
Make campus resources obvious (tutoring, counseling, other).
Find out what resources students have right away. I have an opening survey asking about internet access, familiarity with zoom/google docs/teams/office online. Luckily, UW-Stout is a laptop campus and every student has a laptop. I have never been more grateful for that.

For slideshows, adding a picture for picture’s sake is bad–distracts the learner, especially if there is voice-over.
Even though Kahoot was originally designed for K12, a lot of university-level folks use it. I’m going to try it, if I can get it to connect up with my videos.
I’m making a “Laura, please make a video on …” form for my course so students can ask for a particular topic.
Have a clear communication plan. When & how on your end, and when & how for students too. DO NOT be available 24/7. Have clear time boundaries.

For a first time through, just do your best to make it work. Nothing in teaching is perfect the first time.
Use as many resources as you can from others. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
Be kind to your students. We’re all trying to do this in a pandemic. Nothing is normal.
Consider what students really need to get out of your class this year, this term. Focus on that first, then your typical objectives. I’m adding two learning objectives about responsibility for learning, and participating in an online class. I also will be trying to use current events as much as I can (but again, being engaged and authentic is priority one; this is lower priority).

Here’s where I’ve been learning, in no particular order.