Dear faculty,

As we in the CTL prepare to take our teaching online, we’ve been thinking about ways to best support our students so that we and they will be ready for class next week. Here are some ideas we’ve had about ramping up for next week:

• Reach out to your students this week by email. (Consolidate your communications to students: they’ll be getting a lot of email and Canvas announcements from faculty, so we want to focus our messaging.)

• Provide a concise outline (think bullet points) of what the class will look like online: a course plan or list of key assignments and student obligations. We want to reassure them that the class will have a clear structure, but not overwhelm them with information.

• Decide which remote platform (Google Meet, Canvas Conference, Zoom) you’ll use, and communicate this information to students by this Friday, March 27th.

• Conduct a mock session with a colleague using your remote platform.

• Invite your students to an optional open practice session using your remote platform Thursday or Friday this week.

• Survey your students regarding their technology and other resources they’ll need. (If a student doesn’t have a good internet connection, for example, this way you’ll know how to support them before you begin remote teaching.)  Here’s an example survey. You might post your survey as a quiz on Canvas. 

• Check your own internet connection—and ask your students to do so as well.

• Post guidelines for online etiquette. Things like this:

  • Instructions regarding muting microphones

  • Agreement regarding times it’s appropriate to mute video

  • Clarity on how to signal you have a question (hand raised, chat, etc.)

  • See our recent blog post: Netiquette 101

• Keep lesson plans for the first week simple, focusing on your overall course outcomes: as we ramp up to this new system, students will be grateful for clear-cut lessons with manageable outcomes.

The CTL is here to support you—and your students as well—become remote learners. Let us know if you have any questions. And if you have pointers to add, please share in the comments section. 

~~Molly Broere, Kristin Halsey, Ellen Sprague, Anne Sussman, and Brooke Engel