Teaching an online course differs in many ways from teaching in a face to face classroom.
Communication is critical since students won’t have have the opportunity to meet and interact with the instructor or their classmates in person. Let students know when they can expect a response from you. Instructors do not need to be available 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week, but students should know if they can expect a response within 24 hours, or whatever timeframe works for you.
Try to get to know your students and help them to get to know you.
Engage with students in the Discussion Boards, via email or other communication tools, and by giving prompt, personalized feedback on assessments. Create a D2L news item each week with a personal story, relevant quote, inspirational video clip, or current event, as well as an overview of the expectations for the week. Check out these resources for more information on facilitating a successful online course.
- 10 Best Practices for Teaching Online external website
- Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice to the Online Classroom external website
- Five Tips for Improving Online Discussions external website
- Types of Online Discussion Prompts external website
- Online Discussions: Tips for Instructors external website
- 25 Tips for Successful Online Course Facilitation external website
- Tips and Tricks for Teaching Online external website
Facilitating Learning Online (FLO)
Want to know more and dive deeper into online facilitation? OTTL now offers Facilitating Learning Online (FLO), a 3-week online course that covers many of the practical aspects of getting started with teaching online. Participants will get to experience online learning from the student's perspective while learning about researched best practices in online learning.
Course Objectives:
- Recognize what it feels like to be a student in an online course;
- Compare and contrast online with face-to-face teaching and learning;
- Identify ways in which you can adjust your teaching approach to designing and/or facilitating your online course;
- Consider how to support online learners while maintaining a work/life balance;
- Reflect on your online learning experience and consider how to foster community and teacher presence in an online course
- Follow up with relevant action, whether it's learning more about teaching online, proposing a course, or continuing to work with your Instructional Designer on a course already approved.
Course load is approximately 2-3 hours per week. Upon successful completion of the course and associated activities, you will receive our OTTL FLO badge that can be displayed on D2L/LIVE, LinkedIn and other social sites, showcasing your newfound skills in online education!
FLO will be offered every summer and may be offered during the fall and/or spring semesters depending on demand and facilitator availability. Watch for announcements on Today@Wilkes and in LIVE/D2L for future dates or contact us at ottl@wilkes.edu for more information.