Moving to Digital Learning Fast: Where to Start
As coronavirus changes life as we knew it, these education experts offer advice on how to make the transition to online instruction.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 03/18/20
Numerous colleges and universities across the country suddenly find themselves in the position of having to teach online due to changes introduced by the national response to coronavirus and COVID-19. While every institution has its share of early adopters, people who have been delivering instruction totally or partially online for years, there are plenty of other faculty who are new to the process. To help schools make the transition as quickly and comprehensively as possible, Campus Technology reached out to instructional teams in universities and education technology experts to answer the questions we believe nearly every institution is rushing to answer right now.
This is part 1 of a series. You can find part 2, "Moving to Digital Learning Fast: More Questions Answered," here.
Most of my faculty haven't done this before. Where should we start with training them?
"Start where you can! The faculty likely has e-mail and can start with sending information through [that]." —Kara Longo Korte, director, product management at TetraVX
"The most important advice we could offer faculty members is to be creative and embrace the new options an online format opens up, rather than simply trying to recreate the in-classroom experience via webcam. Faculty should be prepared to engage with students at every phase and to personalize their instruction to the individual student's needs. Some students like the visual interaction of video chat; others might be fine with just a phone call. Sometimes instructors can create videos to share with a class or cohort, especially for material that needs to be shown, not just explained. The delivery choices should also be driven by the content of the material being taught.
"It is important to recognize that our familiar ways of teaching make us feel comfortable and competent. It is okay to mourn those when we can't use them. In a lot of ways, the digital realm offers more flexibility and room for personalization than a traditional in-classroom setting would, so faculty should be prepared to take full advantage of those opportunities. They will feel better about the shift if they embrace their inner learner and allow it to invigorate their teaching. Remember that online learning, at its best, mirrors the way individuals spend much of their days online already — whether they're learning a new skill for work or researching appliances. As much as possible, try to offer experiences that are familiar to the digital citizen. It's a kind of flexibility that the 21st-century learner takes to quickly." —Katherine Porter, faculty experience manager; Natalie Murray, VP student experience; and Joann Kozyrev, VP design and development, Western Governors University
"1) Setting up a course shell for faculty is a first priority to give them a space where they can upload material, connect with students and post assignments. The platform should automatically enroll students.
"2) Have faculty start with a few simple tools — for example, drag and drop a syllabus and content for that week's activities, set up a discussion area for students to work together on activities.
"3) Add an activity feed that offers a Facebook-like experience on the course homepage where faculty can post activities and have conversations with students.
"4) As they get comfortable, help faculty with gradebooks, quizzes, or more advanced features to keep students on track for success and engaged." —John Baker, CEO, D2L