Teaching During Campus or Building Closures

We understand that this a stressful and unprecedented time in everyone’s educational experience. If you need to move your face-to-face class to the online modality, there are many things to consider. You still want to have your students progress with your course’s learning outcomes. We have prepared this page to help you.

If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Academic Excellence & Development Department at AEDD@westerntc.edu. We will have support available from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., seven days a week.

New Recorded Online Series:
Going from Surviving to Thriving in Online Teaching 

Top Ten List for Going Online in a Hurry

1. Look at the big picture

  • Determine the most important priorities
  • What can you realistically accomplish during this time period?
  • What can be altered or omitted from your syllabus?

2. Communicate early and often

  • Listen to your students as to what they need/want
    • They may be busier/stressed than normal
    • Technology may be a barrier
    • They may have some good ideas or solutions
  • Consider your communication options – text, email, Bb announcements, etc.
  • Let your students know what your expectations are and how to be successful

3. Be flexible

  • Keep high expectations but realize that some accommodations or changes will need to be made
  • Everyone is new to this. Not everything will go smoothly.

4. Have a plan “B” ready – perhaps a plan “C” and “D” too

  • Alternate assignments
  • Alternate assessments

5. Asynchronous may be better than synchronous (right now)

  • Just because students are home doesn’t mean they are going to always be available
  • Students may end up working more, not less especially if they work for emergency services
  • Some students may have parenting or other family responsibilities

6. Don’t fuss over audio or video recordings that you create

  • Editing and final polishing of your audio/videos is not necessary right now

7. Consider alternative assessments

  • Offer more open note, open lecture, open-ended response
  • Plan for how you will handle requests for retakes
  • Offer choices for students

8. Be available for your students

  • This goes along with being flexible
  • Approximately 20% of all posts in an online discussion should be from the instructor
  • Let them know when you are available and how (email, Blackboard, etc.)
  • Be available during your current posted office hours in the online format

9. Rethink deadlines and due dates

  • Choose a common time and date every week as your due date (I.e. every Sunday at 11:59 p.m.)
  • Be flexible with late submissions

10. Reach out to your colleagues

  • We have a group set up in Teams for all faculty here designed to seek or offer help with your colleagues
  • The Academic Excellence & Development Department is available AEDD@westerntc.edu

Many of the ideas were influenced heavily from the following articles (they are worth the read):

Some Helpful Resources

Online Teaching Best Practices

Blended and Online Instructor Resources: https://facultyresources.westerntc.edu/full-time-faculty/blended-online-instructor-resources/

Here are some links to best practices for online learning:

Microsoft Teams – Video Resources

Online Assessment Strategies

There are many ways to assess instead of quizzes and tests. Here are a couple of resources with lists of ideas:

How to Create Videos Using Techsmith Camtasia or Techsmith Snagit

Here are some Camtasia how-to videos put out by Techsmith : https://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-camtasia.html

Snagit is an easier, less-powerful screen capture and video software made by Techsmith. If you are new to video and screen capturing this may be a better choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuaS4f9rvow

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