A lot of what you already know about being a good teacher will apply in online contexts; it’s just that as you do this work online, you might find you need to be more intentional about it.
Online learning is, by circumstance, networked learning. The great benefit of digital learning is that students are literally connected to the repository of all human knowledge while working on your course content. Consider replacing traditional lectures and assignments with guided opportunities for students to discover the course content themselves. Another great reason to remember learning is networked is because if internet connections are spotty, video lectures may not be the most effective use of synchronized time together. Consider a flipped learning design approach, where precious synchronous time can be used more for check-ins and connection.
The biggest change for many learners in this circumstance will be that they are now self-directed learners, meaning that they will carry a greater burden for keeping themselves on track. Our Teaching and Learning Centre has an excellent resource for helping students to develop these skills.
Be sure to set expectations for learners early in the course. This involves introducing yourself, exploring the course space with students, talking about how long you expect readings and assessments to take, and how to access additional help when needed.
If you have group work in your course — which can be a great way to build community! — be sure they also set expectations with each other, too. A group charter can be very helpful.
Two key principles of both online learning and trauma-informed teaching are predictability and consistency. Organizing course materials in a predictable way and establishing a rhythm for the course can help learners organize their own lives. Consider a routine where assignments are always due on the same day and time, you post a weekly update at the same day and time, etc.
Teaching presence, as we have discussed, is important to online learning. It’s also a key aspect of trauma-informed practice. But teaching presence doesn’t mean being constantly available — it is important to protect your own space and boundaries too. That said, it is true that online learners can easily feel disconnected or alienated from the learning environment when emails go unanswered. A great strategy is to establish an email policy and let students know in advance (eg. “I answer emails every week day in the afternoon, so you should receive a response within twenty-four hours, but I do not answer emails on weekends”). As long as learners know when to expect a response (and you stick to your schedule, as best you can!), they will not feel disconnected.
If the technology is new to your learners, provide low-stakes opportunities to practice with the tools they will use for assessments. This can be as simple as having a mock assignment dropbox to make sure students know how to submit before they have to do the first assignment. This can reduce stress for them and also reduce panicked interactions with you.
When internet connections are spotty, consider the use of audio as a low-bandwidth way to connect with learners and as a valuable, nimble alternative to video. Audio lectures are much easier for students to download and engage with than video, and for some difficult subject matter the intimacy of audio can be helpful.
In your course design, flexibility is key. Plan for plans to change. It helps to have a sense in your head before you get started of what assignments you might need to drop, how you might need to re-weight percentages, etc. It’s also helpful to signal flexibility to students if they are feeling overwhelmed.
For better or for worse, we signal importance with marks. Instructors often find that online students are less willing to do the kinds of in-class learning activities they are used to online, often because there are no marks attached to the activities. Students will also likely be putting more time in to reading and keeping up with class in online modalities than they do in in-person classes. Having a portion of marks reserved for these formative learning activities can be very motivating.
Discussion and Reflection
Discussion: What are your biggest concerns about effective teaching in this context? What questions do you have that remain unresolved?
Reflection: We’ll take five minutes together for the following exercise. Which of the strategies that we have discussed here seem most attractive to you? Jot down some notes about how you will make use of these ideas in your classes.