robpower
Author
Rob Power, EdD
Affiliation
Assistant Professor of Education, Cape Breton University
Author’s Note
This chapter was originally published as a blog post on the Power Learning Solutions blog (13 March 2020).
Overview
In recent days, there have been numerous announcements of plans by governments and institutions to shift their face-to-face (F2F) courses to online delivery. The aim is to implement social isolation practices, in order to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many (if not most) instructors and students, this will be their first foray into the world of online teaching and learning — and that can be quite scary.
I develop courses for online learning, and I teach instructional design for online learning. I can tell you with no uncertainty that simply dumping your lecture notes and resources into an online portal is not effective. I can also tell you that it takes time, expertise, and resources, to develop and deliver optimal online courses. However, I realize that under current circumstances, these conditions cannot be met by the majority of instructors faced with rapidly moving their courses online.
I’m sharing this guide to do two things:
- To tell you that “you’ve got this!” You can do it.
- To help make the experience as effective as possible for both students and instructors in a rapid transition to online learning scenario.
First Things First
I’m not going to dive into seminal works, or the key theories that inform effective instructional design for online learning. I’m going to focus on practical strategies to get your students and your course online as quickly as possible, using tools that anyone can access and become comfortable using, while avoiding things that could lead to a disastrous experience.
The first thing to do as an instructor is to develop a “plan of attack.” You do not want to spend the rest of this term, or an entire upcoming term, panicking about how you are going to manage this transition. You need a plan that you can focus on day-to-day, and week-to-week.
Communications
Set aside time at the beginning and the end of each work day for reading and responding to emails, student inquiries, and discussion posts.
Development
Keeping Ahead
Stay at least one week ahead of your students. You should be using your “development” time to prepare the resources and activities that you will need for next week, while responding to students as they work through this week’s activities.
Consistency
Use a consistent format for preparing and sharing your resources and activities each week. This will help you to manage your development activities, and it will help students to navigate them once they are posted.
Time Off
Set aside time for yourself, and your family. Let your students know what your working hours are, and avoid “routine” work on the weekends. (I still check in at least once a day, just to see if there are any fires to put out, or any students who have urgent needs… even if just to send them