Opportunities

Focus on the pedagogy, not just the platform: the attributes of a physical classroom don’t guarantee that a class is effective or engaging. The same goes for online platforms. Time spent now thinking about how you want to teach using this technology will be time well spent. In particular, we encourage you to think about which of your classroom-teaching strategies translate well to the remote setting, which don't, and what new approaches you might incorporate.

Take advantage of interactivity: online technologies can encourage and facilitate more “lean forward” behaviors than the traditional classroom. Moreover, most students are digital natives who already use remote technology for their own meetings and gatherings. Take advantage of these possibilities. This applies even to courses that are traditionally more lecture-based.

This is an opportunity to innovate: although the online environment removes access to certain modes of teaching, it opens up a number of new possibilities, some of which you may be able to bring back to your physical classroom. Students are likely to be more forgiving of missteps in a new environment. Take advantage of this difficult time to experiment with new teaching methods and tools.

Expectations

Set classroom norms: if using Zoom to convene your course, circulate clear expectations around behavior. Determine your priorities: as you think about continuing instruction online, consider what you can realistically accomplish.

• Do you think you can maintain your original syllabus?
• What activities are better rescheduled, and what can or must be done online?
• Will you emphasize some things and de-emphasize others in order to add engagement and accountability?
• Keep in mind the impact this situation may have on students' ability to meet those expectations.
• Audio matters: use a good headset, perhaps one with an attached microphone.
• So do time zones: although your class time won’t change, many students’ time zones will. Consider amping up your energy to stimulate theirs.
• Don’t expect to master everything on day 1: you will learn (fast). Your students will learn (even faster). You may even want to recognize this fact explicitly with your students, and invite their ideas for how to engage with/structure the technology for your particular course. Invite them to be co-creators around pedagogy.

Accessibility

Students have a range of abilities, and not everyone will disclose: there are likely students in your course with learning or sensory disabilities. They are not required to tell you, and they may not feel comfortable telling anyone. Rather than asking these students to identify themselves to you, employ practices (like those below) that reach a wide variety of learners.

Text is universal: assistive technologies (such as screen readers, magnifiers, etc.) are nearly always designed to work with text. If you send images to your students, include descriptions. If you use video chat such as Zoom, contact CITL using this form.

Some students need additional processing time: don’t expect everyone to understand after being told once. Provide transcripts and chat logs for later review. When you show images or videos via screen-share, provide those files for students to download. This will especially help students with dyslexia and other reading impediments.

Creating and uploading your materials

Put your slides in a consistent and distributable format (e.g., pdf).

Break up your presentation slides: be aware that online, perhaps even more than in the classroom, students will read first and listen second. Consider PowerPoint’s “Animation” feature (or equivalent) that allows you to show just a bullet or two at a time.

Presenting your lecture

Practice (at least once) in advance: rehearse using the Share Screen and switching among windows you intend to display. If you’re using your own laptop, remember to close all the windows you won’t be using (particularly personal email, etc.) prior to the class.

Keep your normal pace: just because things are delivered electronically does not mean you should speed up or slow down. Your students will still absorb and process information at the same rate. But you should check in with your students more frequently than you might normally, to make sure that they follow the material and remain engaged.

Be visible: even when using Share Screen, it’s good practice to make sure that your face is visible on a side screen while the materials are being displayed - otherwise, engagement can decrease.

Engaging students

Having students listen to a lecture attentively on a small screen can be challenging. Consider taking advantage of various features in Zoom to keep them engaged, such as reflections, Chat, or invited Q&A (using Raise Hand).

Reading the room: unmuted students can inadvertently start talking at the same time, you will not be able to read body language easily, and those less inclined to speak may disappear more easily. To address these issues, be more diligent about pausing and asking if anyone else has more thoughts before jumping to the next topic.

Invite and respond to questions: if your class normally is a large-class lecture format with Q&A, consider inviting students to ask their questions in Chat.

You can also consider asking students to use the Raise Hand feature in case they have an urgent question. (Zoom makes this easier than a standard lecture hall.)

Encourage students to reflect: for example, say “I’d like you to think about ….”, take a short pause, and then if appropriate, provide an answer, or solicit answers from the students. Again, the Chat feature can be helpful in having students record their reflections.

Post answers later: You or your TA might consider offering to post responses after the class to certain Chat questions that you didn’t have time to address during the session.

*This section will be updated as additional guidance is developed.

Lab courses: one of the biggest challenges of teaching online from anywhere is sustaining the lab components of classes. Since many labs require specific equipment, they are hard to reproduce outside of that physical space.

Consider the following as you plan to address lab activities:

• Define what the lab should achieve: different lab activities serve different purposes. See Merlot or Phet for materials that might help replace parts of your lab.
• Take part of the lab online: many lab activities require students to become familiar with certain procedures, and only physical practice of those processes will do. In such cases, consider whether there are other parts of the lab experience you could take online (for example, video demonstrations of techniques, online simulations, analysis of data, other pre- or post-lab work). Save the physical practice parts of the labs until access to campus is restored.
• Investigate virtual labs: online resources and virtual tools might help replicate the experience of some labs (e.g., virtual dissection, night sky apps, video demonstrations of labs, simulations, YouTube videos). Those vary widely by discipline, but check with your textbook publisher, or sites such as Merlot or Phet for materials that might help replace parts of your lab.
• Provide raw data for analysis: in cases where the lab includes both collection of data and its analysis, consider showing how the data can be collected, and then provide some raw sets of data for students to analyze. This approach is not as comprehensive as having students collect and analyze their own data, but it can keep them engaged with parts of the lab experience.
• Increase interaction in other ways: sometimes labs are about providing time for direct student interaction. Consider other ways to replicate that type of interaction or create new online interaction opportunities, including using available collaboration tools like Breakout Rooms, Annotation Tools, and Whiteboardsin Zoom, Slack, etc.

No matter how much we plan and prepare, we cannot be fully prepared for every circumstance.  Students are now in different regions, different parts of the country, in different situations than they were previously, and may have different access to technological resources.  This is the time to consider flexibility and different modes of teaching and learning.

You may encounter some of the below issues.  For each issue, we have provided some best practices as well as some alternatives.  Realizing that no solution is a panacea and every situation is different, we all just have to be flexible and communicate with our students. 

Issue 1: Students may be unable to connect or maintain connection to synchronous classes through Zoom due to inconsistent or lack of access to stable internet and/or technology.

Best Practice:

• Start small with synchronous classes. Try to limit to one session per week initially until you have a better idea of the issues facing your students as we move to remote instruction.  As everyone gets accustomed, you can start to scale up the frequency of your usage.
• Limit the use of live video. If you are sharing your screen, turn your video off.  Have everyone in the session keep their video turned off unless necessary. 
• Limit the use of live student audio. Unless students are actively speaking, audio should remain off. 
• Record your session and post the link within your Blackboard course site. If you want to make sure that students are watching the session, you could have those who are watching the recording, post or submit a written reflection via Blackboard (Blackboard Discussion Board, Blackboard Assignments).

Alternative:

• Create text only content to share with your students via Blackboard. Write down your lectures and post them to Blackboard.  You and your students can participate in asynchronous discussions regarding the content using the Blackboard Discussion Board. 
• Create audio only lectures and share with all of your students. You can use a myriad of tools to create audio (including your phone!) and host it (YouTube, Vimeo) – choose what works best for you and your students.  Just note that only tools like Mediasite are supported by WKU ITS. 
• Use Mediasite to record your lectures and share the recording with all of your students. This will allow all students to access the recordings at their best time.  Keeping the Mediasite lectures as short as possible (3-6 minutes) will also increase the likelihood that students will be able to watch them.

Issue 2: Students may be unable to watch streaming video from Mediasite or Zoom Recordings due to inconsistent or lack of access to stable internet and/or technology.

Best Practice:

• Start small with lecture recordings. Try to limit to a few initially until you have a better idea of the issues facing your students as we move to remote instruction.  As everyone gets accustomed, you can start to scale up the frequency of your usage.
• Keep Mediasite lectures as short as possible (between 3-6 minutes).
• Allow for your Mediasite lectures to be downloaded by your students. This would allow them to find a place with decent internet, and download the videos to watch later.  This is not automatically set up within Mediasite.  Please see the Mediasite Enabling Vodcast Instructions. 

   Alternative:

• Create text only content to share with your students via Blackboard. Write down your lectures and post them to Blackboard.  You and your students can participate in asynchronous discussions regarding the content using the Blackboard Discussion Board. 
• Upload your videos to other platforms outside of WKU such as YouTube and Vimeo. These services do a decent job of balancing quality with bandwidth.  However, note that WKU ITS does not provide support for tools outside of WKU.
• Create audio only lectures and share with all of your students. You can use a myriad of tools to create audio (including your phone!) and host it (YouTube, Vimeo) – choose what works best for you and your students.  Just note that only tools like Mediasite are supported by WKU ITS.  

The suggestions we developed are, admittedly, imperfect, but might go some way in alleviating some of the burden on students who do not have access to technology and broadband internet connection.

If a student has a broadband internet connection and a computer, then…

The student should check his or her WKU email for communication from the instructor. The student should log into WKU Blackboard to view important course announcements, access instructional materials, and submit course assignments.

If a student has a broadband internet connection and a mobile device, but no computer, then…

The student should download the Blackboard mobile app to view important course announcements, access instructional materials, and submit course assignments. Mobile applications for Zoom and Mediasite are also available.

If a student has a mobile device or computer, but no/low broadband internet connection, then…

The student should consider visiting an on-campus computer lab, local library, or other local establishment with wifi or broadband internet connection to access important course announcements and instructional materials and submit course assignments.

Zoom Webinar and Zoom Meeting Rooms are recommended applications because they give better audio and video transmission even with low bandwidth and their users rarely face bandwidth issues. Zoom is generally low-broadband friendly.

In the event that the Zoom session is not dependent on video, students can participate in Zoom sessions by phoning into the session and do not need access to video.

If a student has no broadband internet connection and no computer, then…

The student should consider visiting an on-campus computer lab or his or her local library to view important course announcements, access instructional materials, and submit course assignments.

If a student has no access to broadband internet and no access to a computer or mobile device, then…

Faculty will need to consider and communicate whether makeup assignments will be accepted upon WKU’s return to face-to-face instruction. In this scenario, the faculty member might consider conducting the class as a correspondence, on-demand class.

***If a student falls into any of the above categories, they should contact his or her instructor via phone or email as soon as possible to discuss alternatives for accessing and submitting course materials.

Other considerations for communicating with instructor and submitting assignments in the absence of internet connection or a computer:

Assuming faculty continue to come to campus, students may be able to access printed course materials and/or hand in assignments by visiting the instructor’s office.

Students may be able to take images of written work using his or her smartphone and send to his or her instructor via text message or a free communication app like GroupMe or Slack or WhatsApp. In addition to taking images with a phone camera, you may also suggest various scanning apps. For options, please see this page.

Emails can often be sent offline, enabling students with no broadband internet connection to send completed assignment materials to his or her instructor when necessary.

Mix Objective and Subjective Questions

While online testing can include objective measures (multiple choice, multiple answer, true/false, fill in the blank, etc.), faculty can also include short answer or essay questions. This type of question is more subjective in nature and may demand a deeper understanding of the subject being tested. While mixing objective and subjective type questions may not discourage or stop sharing of information, it may limit the effect on the student’s final grade (Watson and Sottile, 2010).

Use Question Pools

Rather than using a fixed number of items that remain unchanged for each administration of the test, consider creating a question pool. Questions can be grouped by any number of criteria, including topic, subject matter, question type or difficulty of question. A pool will generate an assessment with randomized questions selected by the faculty member. Pools can be created from new questions or questions in existing tests or pools. Pools are most effective when there are large numbers of questions in one group. For example, one might have a pool of true/false questions, another of multiple choice and a third for fill in the blank. The faculty member could then create an assessment drawing a specific number of questions from each of the question-type pools. Faculty can also add new questions to pools each time the course is taught to expand the variability of questions. 

Randomize Questions

When creating a test in Blackboard, one test option allows faculty to randomize the selection of test questions as well as the order in which they appear. The result is that students are not likely to get the same questions in the same sequence when taking a test. This strategy can address the issue of students who take a test at the same time in order to share answers. This is also relevant if faculty allow students to repeat the test. Each time this occurs, a test will be made up of questions that are randomly selected and ordered.

Limit Feedback

Limit what types of feedback is displayed to students upon completion of a test. Available test options include test ‘Score’, ‘Submitted Answers’, ‘Correct Answers’, and ‘Feedback’. Providing test scores is important feedback that indicates how well students have performed and should be made available. However, through a process of elimination, students may be able to determine the correct answer for each test question if their submitted answers are identified as incorrect, or if the correct answer is provided. Students could lose the incentive to both prepare for testing or to seek out correct answers by reviewing lecture notes, assigned readings, or through group discussion after completing tests. Thus, faculty might reconsider whether to include ‘Submitted Answers’ as an option to be displayed to students. This is especially relevant if faculty have allowed students to repeat tests. Each time a test was taken, students could attempt a different answer for a test question that was previously graded as incorrect. Correct answers to all test questions could eventually be accumulated and passed on to other students, or to students of future classes.

Set Timer

Recognizing the fact that students taking an exam that is not proctored are free to use open book/notes, faculty may decide to use the ‘Set Timer’ feature in Blackboard. Students who adequately prepared for a test may be less likely to rely on open book/notes compared with students unprepared for testing. By setting a test with an expected completion time, unprepared students could have the most to lose as they spend time going over material, and risk not having sufficient time to respond to all the test questions.

Display Questions One-at-a-time

Display Questions One-at-a-time f a test has more than 5 questions, do not choose the ‘All at Once’ option for displaying all the questions on the same screen. It is quite easy for students to take a screen capture of the displayed questions and share them with other students. While students can still screen capture pages with single questions, or even type them into a document, it is more time consuming and unwieldy.

Proctoring With Zoom

We do not recommend using Zoom for proctoring for two reasons.
First, you are not going to be able to see what you would hope to see within Zoom for the whole class. Only one person can share their screen at a time, and everyone can see what is shared. So, students would see whoever is sharing their screen’s responses, etc.  

Second, you would not want that many students streaming their video simultaneously (their faces) unless absolutely necessary. A person who has a spotty internet connection could potentially have their bandwidth throttled. While many students would be able run both a Zoom session and Blackboard assuming that they have laptops and computers and decent internet connection, we do not know that they will be able to do that. 

Instead, we recommend creating a larger pool/databank of questions and making questions available one a time, while timing the response time on each question or section.