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I love teaching online, and have been involved in online learning for over 15 years.

More Effort:
In my experience, creating a quality online course is harder (and takes more effort) than creating a traditional class.

Connection:
A good online professor will be online at least 5/6 days a week, interacting with their students, planning future lessons and building a positive online classroom culture.

Scheduling:
I take Sundays to make announcements, put up new coursework for the week, and grade/comment on the week's work. I want students to know that I am putting in as much effort into the course as they are. I like having a "schedule" for my online courses: I.E. Sundays I  will put up new coursework/announcements; Monday I will give individual feedback; Tuesdays - Fridays I respond to student's postings, etc.

Multisensory Work:
Multisensory online learning is key! Don't just depend on discussion boards...Video tape lectures, provide audio based powerpoints and/or links to interactive websites, etc. You don't want your online class to always be "written lecture/discussion board".

Try one new thing:
Try one new thing you haven't tried within the online learning environment each semester :)

Gina Riley, Ph.D.
Clinical Professor - Adolescent Special Education

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Nervous about taking the plunge into teaching online? Here's some tips for developing your fully online course and setting clear expectations for your students and yourself.

Already have a Syllabus?
If you already have a paper syllabus for the course you are developing online - great!
1. Let your semester schedule become the backbone of your online class. Organize weekly coursework into 13-14 modules containing the weekly assignments and readings noted on your syllabus. Add quizzes and exams to the ends of modules to correspond with their placement on your syllabus' semester schedule.
2. Have a "course info and policies" tab for your online class. The info here can come straight from your paper syllabus. Copy and paste!
3. Make sure to transfer your grading policy, accessibility policy, and academic integrity policy from your paper syllabus to this "policy" tab as well. Include a short little no-risk welcome quiz to check that student's have read this info.

FaceTime
To simulate the face-to-face experience with students in the classroom, have students upload avatars of themselves as part of an icebreaker activity during week one. Make sure to participate as well!

So much work!
Online classes are big time commitments for both students and instructors. Make sure your students understand the course commitments early (before Add/Drop). Be clear about all course expectations, from participation to time involvement. If possible, send this info out in a Welcome Message before the first day of class. That gives students the chance to drop while others can still pick up the class. It also helps prevent too much turnover in your roster those first few weeks. :)

Irene Morrison-Moncure, MPhil
Classics Adjunct (Roots Online)

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Online learning can be very rewarding, but it involves a lot of planning to create a course where students feel that they are part of a community and supported in learning.

Open with an Icebreaker
One way to build community is to include a Getting to Know you Icebreaker.
A suggestion here is to use an icebreaker that is nonacademic.  Ask students to post a picture, sharing something or someone they love.   Too personal?  Try an introduction instead, asking students to describe their journey by answering, what brought you here?

Plan your Tools
Online courses ask us to use online tools.  One of the things I have learned with online instruction, is while students are excited for it, they are also very nervous about online tools and often feel it is an isolating experience. To alleviate this, before a course begins, I pick three tools that I plan to use for my course.  These tools are typically selected because they offer the opportunity to participate in a new way-with video, visuals and/or audio.
Then I introduce each tool with a low stakes task, allowing students to explore the tool without consequence of a low score/grade.  The next time we use the tool it is more closely connected to content and scoring.

Be Responsive
One stressful aspect of online learning is that instructors feel the need to be available all the time and student worry about getting timely responses/feedback. To address this, be proactive and establish norms at the beginning of the course so that students know when/how to reach you. One suggestion here is to offer online office hours each week with tools such as Zoom, Skype or Google Hangout. Students can drop in as questions arise. If you don't like video, try using a chat such as TodaysMeet.

Kristen L. Hodnett
Clinical Professor-Special Education

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Search out new ways to connect and build community.

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Search out new ways to connect and build community.

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My students have really enjoyed the comments when they have to connect with others in the class. Over the years I have found ways to pair them and also put them into groups. It took me a while to try these other tools, like Padlet and Voice Thread but they have really added a new dimension to my classes. They contribute to Padlets and they even work in groups to create a Voice Thread that everyone
else watches. My students tell me that they enjoy having the chance to get to know each other and work together even in an online setting.

We also come together a few times a semester for a Zoom conference and some of those times I invite in a guest speakers. It is actually easier to get speakers when they can talk from their place of work or their home! All in all over the years I realized we can build an even more powerful community online when we think out of the box.

Diane Linder Berman
Adjunct Special Education

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Teaching Online is really a different kind of teaching experience altogether.

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Teaching Online is really a different kind of teaching experience altogether.

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Be patient with yourself and with your students.  It takes way longer to set up one online course session than a f2f one, but it also makes the next time around a little easier.  Try making just a few sessions that lend themselves to being online first, and keep the other class sessions on campus.  Gradually work up to having most sessions online.  Recognize that your students may be new at online learning too and will also find things take a lot longer than they think they will. Be crystal clear as they will be more reliant on your instructions online than in class where they can negotiate meaning.

Don't be afraid to just use Blackboard!
Sometimes we try to get really snazzy but the truth is, BB has 24/7 helpdesk and you really don't want to have to do tech support for all your students.  And they will need it!  Also, it has great grade functions, tests, etc, and you can keep yourself sane keeping it all in one place.  The next semester, just copy it over and start again without having to start all over again.

Use Groups
Break the whole class into subgroups where students can live" all semester.  This makes for much more interaction and mutual support than trying to address the whole class at once.

Collect Data
Consider your explorations in online teaching as a potential study you can later publish.  Collect their impressions, and students' learning journey as data.

Laura Baecher
Associate Professor
Curriculum and Teaching

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Plan ahead
I'd recommend that instructors prepare at least three quarters of their course ahead of time. Have all the media and assignments ready to go in Blackboard. This is especially important for first-timers, since you will learn what works and doesn't in short order, and then can adjust for the last half of the course.

Time Management
This one goes for both you and your students. Set up a schedule for when you will release units, when assignments are due,  when grades will be posted and stick to this across the syllabus and during the semester. Creating a routine for you and the student is essential for success. I'd argue that a best practice is to be online for a little bit every day (spending time either grading, responding to posts, reading posts, making yourself available while you do that so students can chat with you in real time).

Assess/Gather Feedback
Create multiple checkin points throughout the semester to provide students with an opportunity to give feedback on the course, assignments etc. An early one about one third of the way through, and another either two thirds in and/or at the end.

Finally, I found that the more engaged I was with students the better the outcomes. This matters on the individual level when they are not "seeing" you as much as f2f classes. Give feedback and "alerts" to students when they miss an assignment. The more you demonstrate that you are aware of when things slip up, the better. And, it affords an opportunity to engage with that student.
--feedback goes both ways--

Jared A. Simard, Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor (Hunter College, CUNY) and Postdoctoral Faculty Fellow (NYU-Liberal Studies)
developed and taught Classical Mythology (FO-fully online)

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This was my first time teaching an online course, and it was a strange new experience for me, as well as many of my students. One thing I did early on was to reach out to each student one-on-one by email to establish a connection with them, and see how things were going. Another thing the students appreciated was getting a "mid-semester" grade. This was a grade I gave them to indicate how they were doing halfway through the course. Some students were reassured, and others were motivated to put in a bit more time than they were.

Honestly, at this point I feel like I have little wisdom to offer. I'd do a number of things differently next time. I'd give shorter lectures, and have more interactive content. I'd allow the students to retake the quizzes multiple times. And I'd be a little more active in checking in with students when they lagged behind.

Justin Garson
Associate Professor
Philosophy